Sri Lanka Beat Afghanistan In A Solid Chase

Sri Lanka 179-6 beat Afghanistan 175-6 by four wickets on Saturday in a thrilling match.

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field in the first match of the Super 4 round of the 2022 Asia Cup.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz‘s extraordinary innings of 84 off 45 balls took Afghanistan to a defendable total.
SL got two points on the Super 4 table and was the highest successful T20I chase in Sharjah.

Even though the highest individual score for Sri Lanka was 36, many of their batsmen contributed, confidently taking the target to 176. Kusal Mendis provided the early attack, Pathum Nissanka showed his many skillful shots.

Danushka Gunathilaka helped them shift the gears, and as the game entered the death overs, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Wanindu Hasaranga thrashed the Afghanistan bowling to help the team win with five balls to spare.

However, the show wasn’t all about the Sri Lanka batters. Rahmanullah Gurbaz‘s extraordinary innings of 84 off 45 balls meant Afghanistan were seemed to score 200 at one stage, but the Sri Lanka bowlers confined them to a much-lower total.

Maheesh Theekshana gave just eight runs off his two death overs, Hasaranga took only 23 runs in his four overs, and left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka sent two batter back to pavilion for 37.

Sri Lanka gets 2 points

Eventually it gave Sri Lanka two points on the Super 4 table and was the highest successful T20I chase in Sharjah.

For Afghanistan, it was for the first time they lost a T20I after posting a 170-plus total. They will now have to resurge quickly, otherwise a slide is inevitable with matches against India and Pakistan to follow.

Rashid Khan went for 39, no other batter apart from Gurbaz looked confident, and the 2022 Asia Cup suddenly seems very wide open.

Afghanistan scored a decent 49 runs in the powerplay, loosing just one wicket. Gurbaz took the team to 70-1 by eighth over but no boundry in the next four overs brought back Sri Lanka in a dominant position.

Hasaranga thrashed three fours off the first six balls he faced, and even though Rajapaksa got trapped for a 14-ball 31 trying for a finishing shot when the target was two runs away, celebrations began among the Sri Lanka fans well before the winning runs were hit.