The Lankan Lions pulled off a major heist in the Asia Cup on August 3 with a thrilling win against the in-form Afghans to make their way into the Super 4 stages in the most nerve-wracking fashion.
A loss would have seen Sri Lanka crashing out of the competition on net run rate, owing to their horrendous defeat to Afghanistan in the inaugural game of the tournament. However, a wonderful team batting effort after a rather poor innings with the ball made sure that the island nation came out on top when it mattered most.
Dasun Shanaka won the toss and decided to bowl first. The Afghan openers, Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, started the innings off in an upbeat way, taking advantage of the fielding restrictions. A mistake in the deep cost the Sri Lankans the prized wicket of Gurbaz, which proved to be quite costly as the Afghan opener made it big.
Zazai did not make too much of an impact on the scorecard, making his way back to the pavilion for 13. Ibrahim Zadran and Gurbaz did the majority of the damage, as the latter was ably supported by his left-handed partner, who held ground at the other end while the latter teed off.
He stormed into the eighties with ridiculous ease, smashing half a dozen sixes along the way, as his side looked destined for a total well above 200. However, Gurbaz and Zadran’s dismissals in a short span of time meant that the Afghanistan side had to settle for 175 on the board.
The Afghanistan bowling was disappointing in the beginning, as the short-pitched bowling allowed the Sri Lankan openers Nissanka and Mendis to take full advantage square of the wicket. Sri Lanka started off extremely well, laying a platform for what would be a historic chase at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The middle phase was when Afghanistan pulled the game back, picking up a few wickets, as things got interesting.
Shanaka’s dismissal looked like the end of Sri Lanka’s hopes, but their decision to push the explosive Bhanuka Rajapaksa down the order paid off massively, as the southpaw scored a game-changing 31 in 14 balls, as Sri Lanka wrapped up the highest chase at Sharjah with five balls to spare, punching their ticket into the Super 4.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka 179 for 6 (Mendis 36, Nissanka 35, Gunathilaka 33, Rajapaksa 31, Mujeeb 2-30, Naveen 2-40) beat Afghanistan 175 for 6 (Gurbaz 84, Ibrahim 40, Madushanka 2-36) by four wickets
