World Cup 2019: Sri Lanka records best PowerPlay show

After losing the Cup opener to New Zealand by 10 wickets, Sri Lanka had to go out of its skin to make a statement against Afghanistan at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Tuesday. Leaving the poor history at the venue aside, the islanders attacked the Afghanistan bowlers to register the best first PowerPlay performance of the tournament — 79 for no loss.

New Zealand’s 77 against Sri Lanka in the last game and West Indies’ 71 against Pakistan in Nottingham are the next best perfornances of first PowerPlay in the list.

West Indies 119/1 against Canada in World Cup 2003 is the best PowerPlay show in the history of the tournament. New Zealand’s 116/2 against England in 2015 is second in the list.

The ploy to open the innings with the hard-hitting Kusal Perera proved effective. Perera and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne (30 off 45 balls) added 92 runs for the first wicket.

Perera brought up his half-century in the 17th over.