SL VS AFG - Only Test, Afghanistan tour of Sri Lanka, 2024

So, that’s it from our side. Afghanistan’s inexperience came through. They have positives to take from this game though. Naveed Zadran looks like a good prospect and he bowled with a lot of heart. Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah showed their class. The more they play red-ball cricket, the better they will get. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, would be pleased with their efforts! They lost to Pakistan 2-0 in their last Test series at home but the 10-wicket victory in this One-Off Test will boost their morale. The limited-leg series lies ahead, with 3 ODIs first up and that will be followed by 3 T20Is. We can certainly expect a much better show from the visitors in white-ball cricket. Don't forget to join us as we will bring to you all the action. This is Abhinav Guha signing off on behalf of Abhinand Raghavendran and Praveen. Until then, goodbye and cheers!

Dhananjaya de Silva | Sri Lanka captain: (On him being the 8th winning Sri Lankan Test captain on debut) No idea, thank you. Captaining the senior players and ex-captains are there, so a good experience. They batted very disciplined, we lost Angelo on the last part of the day. Afghanistan came back well but our bowlers stuck to the plans and didn't give away many runs. That's the way to play Test cricket, keep it tight, once you get one wicket, you can get 2-3. There was grass on this wicket and two spinners wouldn't have been ideal on this pitch. The fast bowlers can reverse it and got some good bouncers in the middle part of the innings as well. (On his run-out dismissal) Angelo was tired, it was definitely my fault, and it was the end of the day, I could have stayed on the crease.

Hashmatullah Shahidi | Afghanistan captain: Boys played well, feel disappointed, first day we didn't play well, we gave chance to the Sri Lankan team and they got on top. We fought back well yesterday. It is our lack of experience in Test cricket and we need to take learning from this game. We're new in Test cricket and it's a learning process for us. We don't have many opportunities in red-ball cricket, so we need to learn and move on.

Prabath Jayasuriya | Player of the Match: I'm really happy at the moment, last couple of days have been very tough. It was a good batting-friendly wicket, we were trying to do our basics on this wicket. We needed to bowl a little slower, we got some grip from the wicket.

It was the second new ball which proved to be the undoing of Afghanistan. Once the two set-batters fell, a procession followed. Jayasuriya caused havoc with his left-arm spin, breaking the back bone of the opposition. They lost 6/36 within one session completely losing the plot. Jayasuriya went on to take a 5-fer. Nijat Masood played a fighting knock but it was too late. Sri Lanka were set a target of 56 and the duo of Karunaratne and Madushka hardly broke a sweat, chasing it under 8 overs. Stick around for the presentations...

In reply, Madushka and Karunaratne started aggressively but the former couldn’t capitalise on his start. A couple of soft dismissals followed as Karunaratne missed out on a century. But, Mathews and Chandimal stitched a record 232-run stand for the 4th wicket at this venue, both raising centuries in the process. Sri Lanka lost their way at the fag end of their innings but eventually finished with a substantial lead of 241 runs. Naveed Zadran shone with a 4-fer for Afghanistan. It was a rearguard batting effort from the top-order of the visitors in their second essay. Ibrahim Zadran and Noor Ali showed tenacity. The latter missed out on a fifty but Ibrahim found an able ally in Rahmat and they raised a 108-run stand. Ibrahim scored a century albeit a few reprieves while Rahmat scored a fifty.

14:37 Local Time, 09:07 GMT, 14:37 IST: Sri Lanka have sailed through to a comprehensive victory! Dhananjaya begins his leadership tenure with a beaming smile on his face! Afghanistan showed sparks of brilliance but you need consistency to win a Test match which they lacked. After Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bowl, Ibrahim Zadran was nipped out for a duck by Asitha. Rahmat stitched a couple of fifty partnerships with Noor Ali and Shahidi but once those were broken, wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Apart from Rahmat’s terrific 91, there was not much to write home about for the visitors. Vishwa Fernando was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts as he scalped a 4-fer.

Qais Ahmad to Karunaratne, FOUR, that's the game! A thumping 10-wicket victory for Sri Lanka! Tossed up delivery, actually a full-toss, Karunaratne kneels down on one knee and nails the slog sweep over mid-wicket for a boundary. Customary handshakes all around

Qais Ahmad to Karunaratne, FOUR, good hit! Karunaratne uses his feet, gets to the pitch of the ball, and drives it crisply past mid-on to get the desired result

Qais Ahmad, right-arm leg break, comes into the attack

Nijat Masood to Nishan Madushka, no run, back of a length ball angling in, Nishan Madushka closes his bat-face early on the tuck and gets a soft leading edge down the track

Nijat Masood to Karunaratne, leg byes, 1 run, good length ball shaping towards leg-stump, Karunaratne looks to tuck it across but it deflects off his thigh pad towards square leg for a leg bye

Nijat Masood to Karunaratne, no run, Nijat Masood switches to round the wicket and angles in a length ball, Karunaratne leans ahead to block and seems to have got an inside edge onto the pads. Struck him slightly outside the line of off-stump as well. Hang on! Afghanistan took a review for an lbw just before the timer ran out! The replay confirms that there is a clear inside edge

Nijat Masood to Nishan Madushka, 1 run, short of length ball angling in, punched through point for a single

Nijat Masood to Karunaratne, 3 runs, back of a length ball on middle and leg, Karunaratne moves inside the line and tucks it nicely through square leg. The batters take on the fielder's arm and call for the third run. The keeper collects the throw and hits the stumps at his end but Nishan Madushka is in by then

Nijat Masood to Nishan Madushka, 1 run, full ball angling in on middle, glanced to fine leg

Nijat Masood, right-arm medium, comes into the attack

Naveed Zadran to Karunaratne, SIX, shot! Another attempted bouncer but this one comes at a good height to Karunaratne. He stands tall and hooks it over deep square leg for a maximum. These two want to finish it in a canter

Naveed Zadran to Karunaratne, no run, Naveed Zadran switches to round the wicket and angles in a bouncer, Karunaratne bails out of the hook

Naveed Zadran to Karunaratne, 2 runs, short of length ball outside off, rises on Karunaratne but he does well to cut it through point. Some good running between the wickets allows the batters to take a couple