First innings

Playing at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, Sri Lanka won the toss the decided to bat first. Afghanistan bowlers couldn’t do much in their last game, so they were ready this time. After taking some time in the beginning, Afghan bowlers began the onslaught and started with Dimuth Karunaratne (32). Soon, Pathum Nissanka (41) was also sitting in the dugout.

Gulbadin Naib (4/60) was giving a tough time to Sri Lankan batters when Kusal Mendis (92) walked on the crease. He held the Sri Lankan innings from one side while wickets kept falling from the other end. Slowly Rashid Khan (2/63) also displayed the magic of his spin and at the end of the first innings Sri Lanka was at 291/8.

Second innings

Chasing a score of 292, Afghanistan has a disastrous start with openers coming back to the pavilion at the score of 27 in the first 5 overs. Kasun Rajitha (4/79)-led the Sri Lankan bowling attack and kept up the pressure on Afghanistan batters. Rahmat Shah (45) and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (59) built a good partnership and Afghanistanis were slowly coming into a good position.

Again Kasun Rajitha came into action and gave a breakthrough to his time by dismissing Rahmat Shah. But, then came Mohammad Nabi (65) who also played a wonderful innings to take the game forward, and now it was becoming clear that Afghanistan was likely to beat Sri Lanka and replace the defending champions in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup.

Maheesh Theekshana (1/62) brought another twist to the game as he dismissed Mohammad Nabi and now Afghanistan had a choice to play for winning or qualifying. The team chose qualifying and the game became very intense. In the end, Rashid Khan (27) smashed 3 beautiful fours to take his team to the doors of Super 4 stage, but Mujeeb Ur Rahman (0) and Fazalhaq Farooqi (0) couldn’t cross that gate and the team was all out at the score of 289.

Updated: 05 Sep 2023, 10:57 PM IST