Sri Lanka struggled to a four-wicket win over a determined Afghanistan on Sunday in their Cricket World Cup Pool A match, requiring some late hitting by Thisara Perera to get out of early trouble and reach the target with 10 balls to spare. Afghanistan was a rank outsider to beat the former World Cup winner, but fiercely defended their 232-run total, and looked a strong winning chance when they reduced Sri Lanka to 51-4. Sri Lanka was still a shaky 178-6 in the 42nd over. However Perera’s unbeaten 47 off 32 balls guided his team to victory, after veteran Mahela Jayawardene scored 100 and captain Angelo Mathews made 44 to get Sri Lanka out of deep early difficulty. –UNB, Dhaka.
