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The Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Sadeera Samarawickrama pulled off a freak catch on Day 1 of the one-off Test match against Afghanistan at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Cricket Ground in Colombo. The 28-year-old created a moment of sheer brilliance at the expense of Rahmat Shah, who put together an impressive display of batting to keep the Afghanistan innings together.
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In the 46th over of the innings, when Afghanistan were 155/4, a well-set Rahmat Shah, who was batting on 91, tried to execute a paddle sweep off the bowling of Prabath Jayasuriya, the left-arm orthodox spinner. Sadeera Samarawickrama, who was keeping behind the stumps, anticipated the trajectory of the ball before the stroke got played, thanks to his brilliant instincts and exceptional reflexes.
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Upon the execution of the stroke from Rahmat Shah, the Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Sadeera Samarawickrama was already on his way to the left to potentially get a hand on the ball. But, in an impressive display of wicket-keeping, he managed to grab hold of the ball with the left glove near his shin before bringing his right glove to keep it secure in his possession.
For the unversed, Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and chose to put Afghanistan into bat first on a pitch, which was expected to provide some assistance to the fast bowlers in the early stages. The decision was proven to be correct with Asitha Fernando trapping Ibrahim Zadran on the second ball of the match without troubling the scorers.
Afghanistan's batting lineup never was in the ascendancy in their innings, apart from Rahmat Shah, who scored 91 off 139. The Sri Lankan bowlers bundled them out for 198 runs within just 63 overs, with the fast bowling duo of Asitha Fernando and Vishwa Fernando sharing seven wickets among them, while Prabath Jayasuriya picked up three wickets of his own.
Here is the freak catch from Sadeera Samarawickrama: