Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan, 1st ODI: Stats Preview of Players' Records and Approaching Milestones

Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are set to face each other in the first of three ODIs starting on Friday, February 9, at the Palekelle International Stadium in Palekelle.

Sri Lanka, enter the contests riding high on confidence after an emphatic win in the one-off Test played against the Afghans while they did manage to defeat Zimbabwe in the ODI series earlier this year. Hasaranga who missed out on the World Cup and Asia Cup came with a high-quality bowling performance picking up seven wickets in the third ODI. 

Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama are the only two players to be in their Squad from the Test Team that played Afghanistan last week. Pathum Nissanka is set to return to the squad after missing out against Zimbabwe due to injury while Avishka Fernando who had a very modest outing in the last tournament has got a nod for one more time. Sri Lanka will look to continue their winning run going.

Afghanistan, on the other hand, entered the contest on the back of a defeat in the Test match against their counterpart, though the top orders managed to bat well in the second innings, Zadran Scoring a century while Rahmat playing a solid knock lost the game due to lack of experience in the middle and lower order as Jayasuriya was too hard to handle for them. 

The last time When Afghanistan played Sri Lanka in the ODI was in the World Cup where they emerged victorious with some sublime performances. Afghanistan would look to bounce back the winning ways and start the series in a positive note.

Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and approaching milestones from the game between SL and AFG:

Head-to-Head: In as many as 12 games played between the two teams, Sri Lanka dominate the contest with seven wins while Afghanistan managed to win four games, one match ended in no result.

1- Mohammed Nabi (99) needs one six to complete 100 sixes in ODIs.

5- Rahmanullah Gurbaz (45) is just five hits away from reaching the milestone of 50 Sixes in ODIs.

2- Gulbadin Naib (98) needs two scalps to complete 100 international wickets.

9- Rahmat Shah (41) needs nine sixes to complete 50 sixes in international cricket.

6- Avishka Fernando (994) needs six runs to complete 1000 runs in ODIs.

1- Dilshan Madushanka (49) needs one scalp to complete 50 international wickets.

40- Kusal Mendis (8960) needs 40 runs to complete 9000 runs in ODIs.

1- Chamika Karunaratne (49) needs one wicket to complete 50 international wickets.