Sri Lanka succumbed to another defeat to bow out of the 2018 Asia Cup after Afghanistan secured a resounding 91-run victory to beat their opponents in an ODI for the first time.
Meanwhile, Thisara Perera’s five-wicket haul went in vain as Afghanistan’s target of 249 seemed too much for Sri Lanka. Having lost the first game, it was a do-or-die situation for Sri Lanka while Afghanistan had never defeated Sri Lanka in an ODI game.
After Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat, Mohammad Shahzad (34 from 47) and Ihsanullah (45 from 65) got them off to a solid start. Lasith Malinga, who starred in the last game, and Dushmantha Chameera struggled to make an early breakthrough.
Rahmat Shah, who arrived at first drop and looked in good touch from the get-go, as he ushered Afghanistan into a promising position. However, wickets kept falling from the other end with Ihsanullah and skipper Asghar Afghan.
Rahmat, who scored 72 from 90, along with Hashmatullah Shahidi (37 from 52), had provided a launchpad that gave Afghanistan’s lower-order freedom to strike. Some useful contributions down the order helped Afghanistan register 249 at the halfway stage.
Sri Lanka’s reply got off to the worst possible start when spinner Mujeeb trapped Kusal Mendis on the pads. Upul Tharanga and Dhananjaya de Silva began to rebuild, but Mujeeb was causing problems. The first ten overs yielded 44 Sri Lanka runs but just after the 50 partnership was reached, de Silva, succumbed to a hapless run out after a huge mix-up with his colleague.
Just as Sri Lanka began to find their stride again, Rashid Khan and Naib struck to half their innings. The bowlers displayed a clinical effort to knock them out of this Asia Cup.