Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva, on Monday (February 5), took a stunning one-handed catch to send back Qais Ahmed and strengthen his team’s grips on the ongoing first Test against Afghanistan in Colombo.
After Sri Lanka posted a big total in their first innings, Afghanistan started their second innings in a promising manner. Openers Ibrahim Zadran and Noor Zadran added 106 runs for the first wicket before Asitha Fernando dismissed the latter for 47. It was followed by another century-plus stand between Ibrahim and Rahmat Shah.
Kasun Rajitha broke the stand by dismissing Shah for 54. Prabath Jayasuriya then dismissed Ibrahim for 114 and the dismissal triggered a collapse. Captain Hashmatullah Shahid (18) and wicketkeeper-batsman Ikram Alikhil (1) failed to get going as Afghanistan found themselves reeling at 247 for 5 from 237 for 2.
Dhananjaya de Silva then came up with a stunning grab in the first slip to send back Ahmed and reduce the visitors to 248 for 6. On the first ball of the 96th over, Jayasuriya bowled a tossed-up delivery around the off-stump and Ahmed went for a front-foot defense. He, however, failed to make good contact with the ball and ended up edging it behind the stumps.
The ball was still looking set to fall well in front of Dhananjaya de Silva. However, the Sri Lanka allrounder showed brilliant reflexes and caught the ball with one hand while diving forward.
Watch Dhananjaya de Silva’s stunning grab:
Sensational in the slips! Dhananjaya de Silva takes a screamer.#SLvsAFG pic.twitter.com/oPyACEHgey
— FanCode (@FanCode) February 5, 2024
Afghanistan kept losing wickets after Ahmed’s dismissal as well. At the time of writing this report, Afghanistan were on 284 for 9 with their lead extended to 43 runs. Earlier in the game, Afghanistan were bowled out for 198 runs in their first innings. Shah played a fine knock of 91 runs but got very little support from the other end.
For Sri Lanka, Vishwa Fernando picked up 4 wickets while Asitha Fernando and Jayasuriya claimed 3 wickets each. In reply, Sri Lanka scored 439 runs with their former captains Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal scoring centuries.
