Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Sadeera Samarawickrama took a terrific one-handed catch to send Afghanistan’s Rahmat Shah back to the hut on Day 1 of the only Test match. While batting on his individual score of 91 at Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, Shah failed to excute a paddle sweep properly on a ball pitched on off-stump by Prabath Jayasuriya. Samarawickrama showed great anticipation and started running to the leg side as soon as he saw Shah going for the shot. The wicketkeeper managed to hold on to the catch that he first grabbed on his left hand.
Watch it here:
Anticipation on point
Brilliant piece of wicket-keeping from #SadeeraSamarawickrama saw Rahmat Shah depart 9 runs short of his century#SonySportsNetwork #SLvAFG pic.twitter.com/SEACw7yvFj
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) February 2, 2024
“That was some crazy stuff from him, he predicted the shot selection of batsmen before,” wrote a fan.
“Wow, that was an incredible catch by Samarawickrama!” wrote another fan.
“Wow unbelievable”, “Excellent effort” and “Sensational” were some of the other comments on the video.
Left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando took four wickets on Friday as Sri Lanka bowled out Afghanistan for 198 runs on the first day of their one-off Test in Colombo.
Afghanistan were 109 for 2 after mainstay Rahmat Shah steadied them after a shaky start but Sri Lanka’s bowlers began to make inroads after Lunch.
Vishwa found sideways deliveries to trouble the Afghan batsman while left-arm spinner Jayasuriya and right-arm medium paceman Asitha Fernando took three wickets apiece.
Afghanistan lost their last six wickets for 43 runs as the lower order failed to put up a fight, with Asitha clearing the last two in three deliveries.
Rahmat, Afghanistan’s most experienced player who has featured in all their previous seven Tests, top-scored with his knock featurning 13 boundaries.
Vishwa took a good return catch to dismiss opening batsman Noor Ali Zadran for 31, breaking his 57-run stand for the second wicket with Rahmat.
Noor was making his debut at the unusual age of 35.
Nisha Madushka at gully took a low catch to dismiss Ikram Alikhil for 21.
Opener Ibrahim Zadran fell for a duck in the second ball of the match.
The match, which is not part of the World Test Championship (WTC), will be followed by three ODIs in Kandy and three T20 matches in Dambulla.
(With AFP Inputs)
Topics mentioned in this article
