Afghanistan shut the door on Sri Lanka
Another batting collapse seals Lankan fate
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Five-time Champions Sri Lanka are going home early after being knocked out of the Unimoni Asia Cup following their second successive shoddy performance with the willow — this time against Afghanistan at the Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium yesterday.
The Afghan bowling attack led by their specialist Rashid Khan trapped the Lankans in their spin web before bowling them out for 158 in 41.2 overs to win by 91 runs.
Thus, their first ever victory against the Lankans also cemented their place in the Super 4 stage along with Bangladesh.
Both Afghanistan and Bangladesh will be playing their last match of the group stage against each other at the same venue on September 20 and the winner will top the group.
Lanka Lions’ batting collapses have clearly turned into malaise and looks like they have no cure in sight. Since January 2017, they have played 42 matches and have lost 30 and won just 10.
With Thisara Perera claiming three wickets in the final over and finishing with a fivewicket haul, Sri Lanka were instrumental in bowling out Afghanistan for a modest 249 in 50 overs.
Though it was a getable total, small target in a pressure match was always going to be tricky with Afghanistan having three specialist spin bowlers in Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi.
Their run chase started on a disastrous note with Kusal Mendis falling leg before to Mujeeb in the second delivery with the scoreboard reading nil. Miscommunication between Upul Tharanga and Dhananjaya de Silva saw the latter being run out in the 13th over and Lankans were reduced to 53 for 2.
Tharanga and Kusal Perera gave some resistance but as soon as Afghan skipper Asghar Afghan introduced his trump card Rashid in the 19th over, the partnership was broken.
Skipper Angelo Matthews (22) tried to resurrect the innings with Thisara Perera but the end was certain.
Earlier, Rahmat Shah topscored for the Afghans with a cool and composed 72 before Thisara Perera stopped them from finishing off with a flourish.
Malinga’s first four-over spell read 22 with no success and wasn’t very effective later on as well — finishing with figures of 10-0-66-1.
However, leg spinner Dananjaya couldn’t have celebrated his fatherhood in a better way than coming to the cause of his team when they were struggling to stay afloat in the tournament.
Reduced to 107 for 2, the Afghanis were in a bit of a bother after Jayasuriya, drafted into the squad as the second spinner and a handy batsman, got rid of opposition skipper Asghar leg before in the very next over.
Thanks to the watchful knock by Shah who scored 72 from 90 deliveries and was involved in a vital partnership of 80 runs with Hashmatullah Shahidi (37), Afghanistan ensured they had a fighting total on board despite Thisara Perera not allowing the tail to wag much.
Sri Lanka Innings