SL vs AFG | Twitter reacts to Noor Ahmad's Gujarat Titans connection with Dasun Shanaka as he pats on his back after wicket
Courtesy of franchise leagues which keeps happening all the time, players from different countries often share the same dressing room. Similarly, Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad and Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka were in the GT camp less than a week ago, and their good relationship was on display on Friday.
Afghanistan’s 18-year-old spinner Noor Ahmad made his mark in IPL 2023 while representing Gujarat Titans, helping his team to reach the finals before Chennai Super Kings handed them a heartbreaking defeat. Sri Lanka’s limited-overs skipper Dasun Shanaka was part of the Gujarat-led franchise as well, albeit he came into the mix as a replacement for the injured Kane Williamson. The team leader Hardik Pandya often talked about their relationships with each other in the dressing room, and a glimpse of that was visible on Friday when Afghanistan and Sri Lanka met for the first ODI of the three-match series in Hambantota.
Coming to bowl the 43rd over, Noor had to break the dangerous partnership of just-arrived Shanaka and a well-set Charith Asalanka to save his side from a flourishing finish. He did his job perfectly on the fifth ball, as his well-disguised wrong 'un which drifted in spun away from Shanaka before rattling the stumps. It was Noor’s first wicket of the day after six overs, and unsurprisingly, he was delighted to get his GT teammate as his first scalp. However, at the same time, the Afghani consoled the Sri Lankan by slowly patting on his back when the latter was on his way to the pavilion after scoring 17 off 16 balls.
The Twitterati were spot on to notice the gesture from Noor and reacted to the incident straight after the incident took place.
Superb!
— Spider Rashid (@RashidSpider) June 2, 2023
Strike
Noor ...What a strike ,man.Shanaka gone
— Pradeep (@dead_rabbito) June 2, 2023
Good one
Asalanka has played a good innings so far. Its time he gets going to put a decent total on the board. Also a century is on the cards. #SLvAFG #Asalanka #Century #CricketTwitter
— SECOND SLIP (@MerchantCricket) June 2, 2023
Yup
කැප්ටන්ට මුකුත් කියල නම් අහුවෙන්න එපා.. 🤗🤗 🏏🏏විනාස වෙලා තිබ්බ ක්රිකට් එක ගොඩ ගත්තේ බ්ලා බ්ලා බ්ලා #SLvAFG
— Suren Perera (@surenmadineshs) June 2, 2023
LOL
Noor Ahmed's magic not working for Afghanistan. It's high time Hardik Pandya becomes the captain of AFG to bring out the best out of their bowlers. #Noor #Hardik #Afghanistan #SLvAFG #CricketTwitter
— SECOND SLIP (@MerchantCricket) June 2, 2023
Good score
Despite the @OfficialSLC top order struggling a bit, we’ve managed a good score so far. This is a strong, well mature and balanced team. Some will fail on some days, other days they’ll shine. This team should stay. #SLvAFG
— questionnaire (@thecosmos7777) June 2, 2023
True
A player like Dasun won’t get a better platform than this to play big shots and score runs for team and yet he failed again. Another day another failure from him . #SLvAFG
— Cricket Tamizhan (@CricketTamizhan) June 2, 2023
Never judge
Noor ahmed was
— Professor samuel oak (@prof_oak123) June 2, 2023
below average in BBL.
Ordinary in LPL
Suddenly he goes in IPL and looks like unplayable.
Now he is getting smashed by Sri Lanka. 😂
That's why never judge a player based on performance in IPL circus.
Same thing will happen with Pathirana. #SLvAFG
Correct
In today's cricket era if any cricketer unable to take single and playing dot ball then he is not fit for today's cricket #SLvAFG
— Rahul Solanki (@95c8e837a8e04a1) June 2, 2023
Rockstars
7th ODI Fifty for Charith Asalanka!
— Thimira Navod (@ImThimira07) June 2, 2023
9th ODI Fifty for Dhananjaya De Silva!#SLvAFG #1stODI #Hambantota pic.twitter.com/HXRUXJZ79j