Wednesday 24 / April / 2024
Lahore: Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka was eased that they somehow found a way to win against valiant Afghanistan.
Kasun Rajitha's fiery four-wicket haul and Dhananjaya de Silva's unbridled two wickets in the crucial 38th over helped Sri Lanka sneak home by two runs against a spirited Afghanistan side to book a Super 4 spot in the Asia Cup 2023 at the match played at Gaddafi Stadium here on Tuesday.
The equation for Afghanistan was pretty straightforward at the innings break when Sri Lanka had set a target of 292 — to chase it in 37.1 overs or less or miss out on a spot in the Super 4 stage of Asia Cup 2023.
Sri Lanka almost lost it but they kept their cool to clinch a place in Super Fours in a super thriller in Lahore.
"It's a tough one, very hard to defend such a total. DDS and my wicket - that was the important part of the game. Mendis and Asalanka built the innings really well. We didn't chip today. Credit to Theekshana and Wellalage - they played brilliantly to finish on 291," Dasun Shanaka said during a post-match presentation.
Kusal Mendis' 92 and a late 64-run stand between Dunith Wellalage and Maheesh Theekshana had put Sri Lanka in the driver's seat in Lahore after they opted to bat first in the crucial Asia Cup fixture.
"Kasun opened the door for us. Nabi played an outstanding inning which almost took away the game from us. We found a way to win," Shanaka said.
Sri Lanka will face Bangladesh in their first Super Four match at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Saturday.
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, who played a valiant knock of 59, expressed enormous delight in his team's performance despite the heartbreaking two-run loss to Sri Lanka that knocked them from the Asia Cup in Lahore on Tuesday.
The equation for Afghanistan was pretty straightforward at the innings break when Sri Lanka had set a target of 292 — chase down the target in 37.1 overs or less or miss out on a spot in the Super 4 stage of Asia Cup 2023. Mohammad Nabi slammed a record-making 24-ball half-century.
Afghanistan came agonisingly close, falling short by two runs as they were bowled out for 289 in 37.4 overs.
"Very disappointed about it (the loss and elimination). We fought well, we gave our 100 per cent. Proud of the team for the way we played, the way we batted. I think in the last couple of years we played good cricket in the ODI format also," Shahidi said in a post-match presentation.
"We are still learning a lot. We had a lot of positives in this tournament. We are very near to the World Cup, what we did wrong here we will learn and be better for World Cup. Our crowd is always supporting us. We are thankful to them. We tried our best to give something back to them today, we feel sorry for them," Shahidi said.
At one point, it appeared that Afghanistan would not only win but would also edge out Sri Lanka for qualification to the next round. Afghanistan needed 92 runs in 11.1 overs to secure their Super 4 spot after reaching 200 in just 26 overs with only four wickets lost. It appeared possible with Nabi leading the charge.
But things went sour for them when Nabi was fired. Rashid Khan and Najibullah Zadran batted well to bring the game down to the wire, but Mujeeb holed out off Dhananjaya de Silva with three needed off one ball to seal qualification. Three balls later, the off-spinner returned Fazalhaq Farooqi to help Sri Lanka complete a victory by two runs.
