Just one win from two World Cups before this for Afghanistan, and they now have 3 in 6 games. If they can win 2 of their remaining 3, they have a decent chance of making it to the semis. For a lot of years, it was their bowling that made the headlines, but now it's their batting. Clear sign of a team that's worked really hard to get all the bases covered. For all the associate nations, Afghanistan's rise in international cricket should act as a great catalyst in hoping and doing great things on the world stage. Netherlands, too, will have some fond stories to tell you'd assume. The World Cup, story, however just got interesting folks. It's gonna get tougher and tougher for the bottom dwellers

Hashmatullah Shahidi | Afghanistan skipper: Quite happy and proud of the team. Happy for the way we performed in all 3 departments. Last game gave us lot of confidence and belief that we can chase any kind of target. It was a very professional performance from the bowlers today

Kusal Mendis | Sri Lankan skipper: We didn't do enough with the bat

Stats courtesy Shashikant Singh

Afghanistan wins in ODI World Cups
Beat Scotland by 1 wicket, Dunedin, 2015
Beat England by 69 runs, Delhi, 2023
Beat Pakistan by 8 wickets, Chennai, 2023
Beat Sri Lanka by 7 wickets, Pune, today*

Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka in ODI World Cups
2015 - Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets
2019 - Sri Lanka won by 34 runs
2023 - Afghanistan won by 7 wickets*

Most matches lost by a team in World Cups
43 - Sri Lanka*
42 - Zimbabwe
37 - England
36 - Pakistan
35 - New Zealand
35 - West Indies

Highest stands for Afghanistan in World Cups (any wicket)
133 - Ikram Alikhil & Rahmat Shah vs WI, Leeds, 2019 (2nd)
130 - Ibrahim Zadran & R Gurbaz v PAK, Chennai, 2023 (1st)
121 - Azmatullah Omarzai & H Shahidi vs IND, Delhi, 2023 (4th)
114 - Ibrahim Zadran & Rahmanullah Gurbaz v ENG, Delhi, 2023 (1st)
111* - Azmatullah Omarzai & H Shahidi vs SL, Pune, today (4th)*

Highest scores from No.5 or below for Afghanistan in World Cups
73* - Azmatullah Omarzai vs SL, Pune, today*
62 - Azmatullah Omarzai vs IND, Delhi, 2023
58 - Ikram Alikhil vs ENG, Delhi, 2023

Most 50-plus scores without a hundred in ODIs
42 - Misbah-ul-Haq (PAK)
25 - Andrew Jones (NZ)
21 - Graham Thorpe (ENG)
18 - Hashmatullah Shahidi*
17 - Kim Hughes (AUS)

This is the first time Afghanistan won back-to-back matches in the ODI World Cups.

Afghanistan in the World Cup
First 17 matches - 1 Win
Last 4 matches - 3 Wins

Fazalhaq Farooqi | Player of the Match: Thanks to the Almighty, nice to have 3 wins in the tournament, happy to have contributed to the team win. I was looking for swing with the new ball, but I didn't get it, so I just kept it simple, hit the right areas, didn't want to concede boundaries and that's how I succeeded. We conceded too many runs in the last few overs (in the previous matches), we put in the hard yards in the nets, bowling with accuracy and trying out as many variations as possible. That's exactly what we went out and did in the match today (translated by Rashid Khan).

21:56 local, 16:26 GMT, 21:56 IST: Twice in a row, Afghanistan have put up a chasing masterclass

HS: Almost knocked Sri Lanka out of the Asia Cup and now definitely on 5th spot after this game. Afghanistan cricket on the rise.

Chameera to Azmatullah, 1 run, that's it. Asalanka drops a sitter at deep square and that will do for Afghanistan

Chameera to Shahidi, 1 run, full outside off, Shahidi drives neatly to the right of sweeper cover

Rajitha to Shahidi, 1 run, good length just outside off

Rajitha to Azmatullah, 1 run, to long-on

Rajitha to Azmatullah, FOUR, to deep mid-wicket

Rajitha to Shahidi, 1 run, length delivery just outside off, Shahidi drags the pull off the inside half to deep square

Rajitha to Azmatullah, 1 run, to sweeper cover

Rajitha to Azmatullah, no run