Sadeera Samarawickrama's 'next level' catch stuns Afghanistan and Rahmat Shah; WATCH
Sadeera Samarawickrama's 'next level' catch stuns Afghanistan and Rahmat Shah; WATCH
Admin
In the first ever Test match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, Sadeera Samarawickrama stunned everyone with a brilliant catch behind the wicket to dismiss Rahmat Shah. Afghanistan were admitted as a Test-playing nation in 2018, but this is the first match for them in the five-day format against Sri Lanka. The one-off Test began on 2 February at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
It was Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva who won the toss and asked Afghanistan to bat first before Ibrahim Zadran fell to Asitha Fernando in the very first over and the second delivery of the match. Noor Ali Zadran (31) and Rahmat Shah (91) then put up a 57-run partnership.
Noor Ali was dismissed by Vishwa Fernando followed by another 52-run partnership between Rahamt and Hashmatullah Shahidi (17). Hashmatullah and Nasir Jamal were then dismissed in quick succession by Vishwa Fernando and Prabath Jayasuriya respectively as Rahamat kept fighting from the other end.
Eventually it took a brilliant bit of thinking and wicket-keeping from Samarawickrama to get rid of Rahamat off Jayasuriya.
Just as Rahamt got ready to play a paddle sweep, Samarawickrama started shuffling to his left, showing great presence of mind, and took a brilliant low catch to remove the set batter.
The catch was so incredible that a user on X (formerly Twitter) described it as “next level stuff”.
That was some next level stuff ????
Even the batsman wouldn’t have expected— CHADitya ???? (@CHADitya_18) February 2, 2024
Afghanistan were eventually bowled out for 198 with Vishwa Fernando taking four wickets and Prabath Jayasuriya had three.
