Afghanistan overwhelm Sri Lanka, in quarters
NEWDELHI: It should have been an easy task for Afghanistan after they notched up 284 for 7 against Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, it rained on Wednesday, turning an easy task into a slugfest. Eventually Afghanistan prevailed by 32 runs on DLS Method i n Whangarei and moved into the quarter-finals.
Thanks to half centuries from Ibrahim Zadran (86 off 112), Ikram Ali Khil (55 off 89) and Darwish Rasooli (63 off 44), Afghanistan looked set for an easy win after rattling Sri Lanka with early wickets, but after rain enforced a revision of the target to 235 off 38 overs, Sri Lanka sensed a chance.
They resumed at 114/3 in 25 overs, with Kamindu Mendis and Jehan Daniel, but the latter holed within five balls of the restart. Sri Lanka, having been reduced to 11/2 earlier, were steadied by Daniel and Krishan Sanjula with a 76-run stand.
Sanjula (41) holed out off Qais Ahmed before rain-break, and with Daniel (48) walking back on resumption, Sri Lanka needed something special from Mendis. Scores: Gr D: Afghanistan 284/7 (Zadran 86, Ikram 55, Rasooli 63) bt Sri Lanka 202 (Daniel 48, Naveen-ul-haq 4/35) by 32 runs D/L Method.
Gr A: SA 282/ 8 (Makwetu 99, Pillay
47, Rolfes 4/33) bt Windies 206 (Athanaz 76, Kallicharan 44) by 76 runs.
Gr A: NZ 436/ 4 (Jakob Bhula
180, Ravindra 117, Allen 90) bt
Ken 193/4 (Gandhi 63) by 243 runs Gr B: Aus 135/3 (Bryant
44) bt Zimbabwe
134 (Bartlett 3/20) by 7 wkts.