Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets against Afghanistan in the Opening Match of Super 4 at Asia Cup 2022. Sri Lanka’s team chased down the target of 176 runs for the loss of six wickets with 05 balls to spare.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz got the man of the match award for a blistering inning of 84 runs in just 45 deliveries with the help of 4 fours and 6 sixes.

Sri Lanka All-Round performance

They all contributed, pulling their weight in the pursuit of 176 despite the fact that nobody scored more than 36. As the game entered the death overs, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Hasaranga win it for Sri Lanka with five balls remaining.

Early in the inning, Kusal Mendis provided the early assault, Pathum Nissanka demonstrated his various gears, Danushka Gunathilaka helped them shift the momentum, and Kusal Mendis provided the late assault.

The Sri Lankan batsmen weren’t the only factor, though. Rahmanullah Gurbaz damaged them with exceptional innings of 84 in 45 balls. After the wicket of Gurbaz, the Lankan bowlers didn’t allow the Afghan batter to score freely in the death overs.

Toss

Early on Sri Lanka won the toss and choose to field

Afghanistan XI: Hazratullah Zazai , Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (capt), Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Sri Lanka XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Charith Asalanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka

Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets against Afghanistan in Super 4 at Asia Cup 2022 — Fight for 2022 Asia Cup Championship Title

Presentation

The Player of the Match Rahmanullah Gurbaz

“Of course disappointed with the result, but that’s cricket. We were short 25 runs or so because the wicket wasn’t that difficult.

“I just tried to do my best, but I think the way we finished in the final overs wasn’t good. Playing franchise cricket has helped a lot, because of how we train to compete in those big competitions. We hope to take the form from here to the World Cup as well.”

Losing captain Nabi

“We were about 20-25 runs short, and also we didn’t field well or bowl in the right areas.

It’s a better pitch today than the one we played on against Bangladesh, which is why I said we were a few runs short.

We didn’t bowl brilliantly, but we bowled really well. We dropped some catches, which if we took the game would have been different.”

Winning captain Shanaka

“It’s the belief of the dressing room, we believe we can chase anything in these kinds of wickets. We can always analyze the wicket better when chasing.

There was a plan coming into this game, we know they have good batters, but the boys executed the plans really well. As I mentioned in the toss, partnerships was the key to winning the game.”

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Scorecard

Afghanistan Innings

BATTING		R	B	4s	6s	SR
Hazratullah Zazai	b Madushanka	13	16	2	0	81.25
Rahmanullah Gurbaz †	c de Silva b Fernando	84	45	4	6	186.66
Ibrahim Zadran	c Fernando b Madushanka	40	38	2	1	105.26
Najibullah Zadran	run out (de Silva/†Mendis)	17	10	1	1	170
Mohammad Nabi (c)	c & b Theekshana	1	4	0	0	25
Rashid Khan	run out (Nissanka/†Mendis)	9	7	0	1	128.57
Karim Janat	not out	0	1	0	0	0

Extras	(lb 1, nb 1, w 9)	11
TOTAL	20 Overs(RR: 8.75)	175/6

Did not bat: Samiullah Shinwari, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Fall of wickets:1-46 (Hazratullah Zazai, 4.5 Overs), 2-139 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 15.3 Overs), 3-151 (Ibrahim Zadran, 17.2 Overs), 4-166 (Mohammad Nabi, 18.4 Overs), 5-166 (Najibullah Zadran, 18.5 Overs), 6-175 (Rashid Khan, 19.6 Overs)

Sri Lanka Bowling

BOWLING	O	M	R	W	ECON
Maheesh Theekshana	4	0	29	1	7.25
Asitha Fernando	4	0	34	1	8.5
Dilshan Madushanka	4	0	37	2	9.25
Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva	4	0	23	0	5.75
Chamika Karunaratne	2	0	29	0	14.5
Dasun Shanaka	2	0	22	0	11

Sri Lanka Innings (Target: 176 runs from 20 overs)

BATTING		R	B	4s	6s	SR
Pathum Nissanka	c †Rahmanullah Gurbaz b Mujeeb Ur Rahman	35	28	3	1	125
Kusal Mendis †	c Ibrahim Zadran b Naveen-ul-Haq	36	19	2	3	189.47
Charith Asalanka	b Mohammad Nabi	8	14	0	0	57.14
Danushka Gunathilaka	b Rashid Khan	33	20	2	2	165
Dasun Shanaka (c)	c Najibullah Zadran b Mujeeb Ur Rahman	10	9	1	0	111.11
Bhanuka Rajapaksa	b Naveen-ul-Haq	31	14	4	1	221.42
Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva	not out	16	9	3	0	177.77
Chamika Karunaratne	not out	5	2	1	0	250

Extras	(lb 2, w 3)	5
TOTAL	19.1 Overs (RR: 9.33)	179/6

Did not bat: Maheesh Theekshana, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka

Fall of wickets: 1-62 (Kusal Mendis, 6.3 Overs), 2-80 (Pathum Nissanka, 8.6 Overs), 3-94 (Charith Asalanka, 11.3 Overs), 4-119 (Dasun Shanaka, 14.1 Overs), 5-151 (Danushka Gunathilaka, 16.4 Overs), 6-174 (Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 18.3 Overs)