Afghanistan's first match in a World Cup didn't have the fairytale ending everyone in the war-torn country hoped for. Chasing 268 runs put up by Bangladesh, the Afghan side lost by 105-runs after being in all sorts of bother at 3-3. Up next for them are a Sri lanka side who also started their campaign with a defeat.
In contrast to Afghanistan's defeat, Sri lanka were pummeled in the curtain raiser by New Zealand who are in a relentless mood as was evident in their win over England. The 1996 World Cup winners will look to get their campaign back on track and Afghanistan may just be the team that they need to face in order to do that. A win, a comprehensive win, over the Afghans is likely to give the islanders the confidence after losing their ODI series against New Zealand before the mega event began.
Against the Kiwis, neither the bowling nor the batting clicked for Angelo Mathews' side. They were found wanting in all departments and dropped chances when presented to them. The only positive was of Kumar Sangakkara becoming the second highest ODI run getter (13732 runs) eclipsing Ricky Ponting and sitting behind Sachin Tendulkar.
The two sides have only faced each other once in an official ODI when Sri lanka came out on top with a 129-run margin at the Asia Cup in 2014.