Ranpul’s five wickets in vain as Afghanistan knock Sri Lanka U19s out of World Cup 

A remarkable five-wicket haul by Vinuja Ranpul was in vain as Afghanistan Under 19s launched a sensational fightback to pull off a four runs victory over Sri Lanka in the quarter-final of the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022 at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Thursday.

Despite only setting a target of 135, agility in fielding and superb bowling performances helped Afghanistan reach the Super League semi-finals as they restricted Sri Lanka to 130 runs.

Sri Lanka’s top order collapsed in terrific fashion as three run-outs slumped them to 43 for seven wickets in the 18th over. Skipper Dunith Wellalage and Raveen de Silva fought back for more than 20 overs in a partnership of 69 runs, but when they were dismissed in consecutive overs, the last pair of Vinuja Ranpul and Treveen Mathew survived to add 14 more runs before another run-out ended Sri Lanka’s super league competition.

Afghanistan will now face England in the first Super League semi-final at the Sir Viv Richards Cricket Ground on February 1.

Deciding to field first Sri Lanka Under 19 bowlers did well to contain Afghanistan as Vinuja Ranpul took five wickets for ten runs.

Nalanda College speedster Vinuja Ranpul, who played no part in the first three matches of the World Cup played a crucial role in containing Afghanistan to a low score.

The former Cambrian shared the new ball with Yasiru Rodrigo in the crucial encounter and produced an outstanding first spell to get Sri Lanka into a commanding position. Bowling eight overs at a stretch Ranpul rattled the top order taking three wickets in his sixth and seventh overs.

Spinner Treveen Mathew coming in as the first change bowler provided the ideal backing as he commenced with three consecutive maiden overs. Mathew took one wicket for four runs in his first spell of six overs before completing his ten overs for just 13 runs.

The tight bowling in the first half of the innings proved to be crucial as Afghanistan struggled to get back into the game. They could score just 59 runs in the first 25 overs and were yet to reach three figures going into the last seven overs.

However, from six wickets down for 84 runs they managed to reach their eventual total thanks largely to a seventh-wicket stand of 48 runs between Abdul Hadi and Noor Ahmad. The latter was the aggressive of the two as he hit four sixes in a knock of 30 runs (33 balls). His threat of a big score was doused when Ranpul had him as his fourth wicket when he returned for his last two overs.

While Wellalage picked up three wickets in his ten overs, Ranpul completed a remarkable five-wicket haul for just ten runs (9.1-3-10-5).

The Sri Lankan reply was on shaky ground from the start. Opener Sadisha Rajapaksa went for a duck in the opening over, and his replacement Shevon Daniel went for just two after he was clean bowled by Bilal Sami.

After 13 overs, they were in a worse position than Afghanistan were during their innings. Nor Ahmed then produced a cracking delivery to remove Ranuda Somarathne and put Sri Lanka in real trouble.

From that point, their dreams of lifting a first ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup were fading fast.

Scores:

Afghanistan

U19s 134 all out in 47.1 overs (Allah Noor 25, Abdul Hadi  Noor Ahmad   ; Vinuja Ranpul 5/10, Dunith Wellalage 3/36) 

Sri Lanka

U19s 130 all out in 46 overs (Chamindu Wickramasinghe 16, Dunith Wellalage 34, Raveen de Silva 21; Bilal Sami 2/33)