In an abject surrender to Afghanistan, Sri Lanka lost a must-win game by 91 runs to be ousted from the Asia Cup on Monday (September 17). Set a target of 250, Sri Lanka were blown away by a collective bowling display by Afghanistan to be bowled out for 158.
Sri Lanka have found themselves on a banana peel far too often in the limited-overs format for the last couple of years, and on Monday too, they started off on a slippery note. Their downfall began with Kusal Mendis missing an incoming delivery from Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the first over of the chase and was back in the hut for his second successive duck in the tourney.
An early wicket brought Dhananjaya de Silva to the crease and with Upul Tharanga alongside him, Sri Lanka switched on the recovery mode. Unlike the straight lines in the first innings, the ball darted around for both spinners and seamers alike in the second half of the game. The duo survived, rode their luck and fought with determination to resurrect the essay with fifty-run partnership. But just as it looked promising for bigger things to come, things took an ugly turn.
They lost Dhananjaya in a comical run-out in the 14th over. Rashid Khan came on to bowl in the 20th over and struck immediately, robbing Sri Lanka of any shot at recovery. Kusal Perera was bowled trying to slog him across, and Tharanga fell in the next over, chipping an innocuous delivery to mid-off. At 88 for 4 with the required rate threatening to touch six an over, it looked all so familiar for Sri Lanka - hapless.
What followed next was a script overdone by the Sri Lanka of recent times. Shehan Jayasuriya became the second run-out casualty of the evening and when Angelo Mathews's loft went down the long on's throat to give Mohammad Nabi his first wicket of the day, it was all over for Sri Lanka. Afghanistan went on to swiftly remove the tail to cut short the five-time Asian champions' journey.
Earlier in the day, Afghanistan decided to bat first on a slightly greenish wicket but reaped dividends thanks to a good start handed to them by their openers - Mohammad Shahzad (34) and Ihsanullah Janat (45). But both fell prey to Akila Danajaya, who had missed the first game against Bangladesh due to personal reasons. While Akila's comeback promised a possible Sri Lankan renaissance, it was vanquished sooner rather than later as Rahmat Shah and Hasmatullah Shahidi got together to add 80 runs for the fourth wicket. And when it looked like there will be a final flourish, they ran out of gas at the final bend. Thisara Perera stuck to yorkers and slower balls to add a fifer to his kitty and that helped the island nation in restricting Afghanistan to 249.
Brief Scores: Afghanistan 245/ 8 in 50 overs (Rahmat Shah 72, Ihsanullah Janat 45; Akila Dananjaya 2-39) beat Sri Lanka (Upul Tharanga 36; Rashid Khan 2-26, Mohammed Nabi 2-30) by 91 runs.
Cricbuzz
BDST: 1020 HRS, SEPT 18, 2018
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