Gutsy Afghanistan knock Sri Lanka out of Asia Cup
ABU DHABI: Sri Lanka, four-time Asia Cup winners, were knocked out by Afghanistan as they slumped to a 91-run loss in a Group B match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Monday. Chasing a 250-run target, Sri Lanka were dismissed for 158 in 41.2 overs. They had lost the opening match to Bangladesh by 137 runs.
Apart from Upul Tharanga’s (36) 54-run stand with Dhananjaya de Silva (23), other Lankan batsmen hardly showed any gumption for fight. Thisara Perera (28) tried to push for a late fightback but it was not to be.
For Afghanistan, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib took two wickets each. Afghanistan, for whom this is the maiden win against Sri Lanka in three meetings, next face Bangladesh on Thursday.
Earlier, middle-order batsman Rahmat Shah struck a solid half century to lift Afghanistan to 249.
Shah struck five boundaries during his 90-ball knock of 72 and added 50 for the second wicket with Ihsanullah Janat (45) after Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat on a flat pitch.
Janat hit six boundaries in his 65-ball innings while his opening partner Mohammad Shahzad batted in his aggressive style, hitting a six and four boundaries in his 47-ball 34.
AFGHANISTAN
Shahzad lbw Dananjaya 34 (47) Ihsanullah lbw Dananjaya 45 (65) R Shah c T Perera b Ch’meera 72 (90) A Stanikzai lbw Jayasuriya 1 (5) H Shahidi b T Perera 37 (52) M Nabi c T Perera b Malinga 15 (12) N Zadran b T Perera 12 (14) Naib c Dananjaya b T Perera 4 (5) R Khan b T Perera 13 (6) A Alam not out 7 (2) M Rahman b T Perera 0 (2)
Extras (lb-2, w-7) 9 Total (all out; 50 overs) 249 FOW: 1-57 , 2-107, 3-110, 4-190, 5-203, 6-222, 7-227, 8-242, 9-249
Bowling: L Malinga 10-0-66-1, D Chameera 10-2-43-1, T Perera 9-0-55-5, A Dananjaya 10-0-39-2, Dhananjaya de Silva 5-0-22-0, Jayasuriya 6-0-22-1.
SRI LANKA
K Mendis lbw Mujeeb Tharanga c Asghar b Naib DM de Silva run out K Perera b Rashid A Mathews c Khan b Nabi S Jayasuriya run out T Perera b Naib
D Shanaka b Mujeeb A Dananjaya b Nabi L Malinga lbw Khan D Chameera not out
0 (2) 36 (64) 23 (38) 17 (17) 22 (39) 14 (28) 28 (36) 0 (2) 2 (10) 1 (7) 2 (5)
Extras (b2,lb5,w6) 13 Total (all out in 41.2 ovs) 158 FOW: 1-0, 2-54, 3-86, 4-88, 5-108, 6-143, 7-144, 8-153, 9-156 Bowling: M Ur Rahman 9-1-32-2, A Alam 7-0-34-0, G Naib 8-029-2, M Nabi 10-1-30-2,
R Khan 7.2-0-26-2.
Afghanistan won by 91 runs.