SL vs AFG Full Scorecard, Asia Cup 2023 Updates

6th ODI • Gaddafi Stadium • Lahore

Sri Lanka

291/8 (50)

Afghanistan

289/10 (37.4)

SL won by 2 runs

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Player of the Match Kusal Mendis

92(84)

Lucky Winner pritinkd1812

AFG

Info

Sri Lanka

291/8 (50)

Batters

Pathum Nissanka

102.50

c N Zadran b G Naib

Dimuth Karunaratne

91.43

c M Nabi b G Naib

Kusal Mendis

109.52

runout (R Khan)

Sadeera Samarawickrama

37.50

c Rahmanullah Gurbaz b G Naib

Charith Asalanka

83.72

c & b R Khan

Dhananjaya de Silva

73.68

b MU Rahman

Dasun Shanaka

(C)

62.50

b R Khan

Dunith Wellalage

84.62

Not out

Maheesh Theekshana

116.67

b G Naib

Extras

(B: 0, LB: 1, NB: 0, W: 6)

TOTAL

(50 Ov, RR: 5.82)

291/8

Did not Bat

Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana

Bowlers

EXT

7.43

6.00

6.00

3.50

6.30

6.67

Fall Of Wickets

SCORE

OVER

Dimuth Karunaratne

c M Nabi b G Naib

1-63

10.2

Pathum Nissanka

c N Zadran b G Naib

2-80

14.4

Sadeera Samarawickrama

c Rahmanullah Gurbaz b G Naib

3-86

16.5

Charith Asalanka

c & b R Khan

4-188

33.2

Dhananjaya de Silva

b MU Rahman

5-221

38.1

Kusal Mendis

runout (R Khan)

6-226

39.1

Dasun Shanaka

b R Khan

7-227

39.3

Maheesh Theekshana

b G Naib

8-291

49.6

Afghanistan

289/10 (37.4)

Batters

Rahmanullah Gurbaz

50.00

c K Mendis b K Rajitha

Ibrahim Zadran

50.00

b K Rajitha

Gulbadin Naib

137.50

lbw b M Pathirana

Rahmat Shah

112.50

c M Pathirana b K Rajitha

Hashmatullah Shahidi

(C)

89.39

c K Rajitha b D Wellalage

Mohammad Nabi

203.13

c D Silva b M Theekshana

Karim Janat

169.23

c D Karunaratne b D Wellalage

Najibullah Zadran

153.33

c (sub D Hemantha) b K Rajitha

Rashid Khan

168.75

Not out

Mujeeb Ur Rahman

0.00

c S Samarawickrama b D Silva

Fazalhaq Farooqi *

0.00

lbw b D Silva

Extras

(B: 0, LB: 5, NB: 0, W: 10)

TOTAL

(37.4 Ov, RR: 7.67)

289/10

Bowlers

EXT

7.90

6.20

9.00

6.30

16.00

1.4

7.20

Fall Of Wickets

SCORE

OVER

Rahmanullah Gurbaz

c K Mendis b K Rajitha

1-10

2.2

Ibrahim Zadran

b K Rajitha

2-27

4.6

Gulbadin Naib

lbw b M Pathirana

3-50

8.1

Rahmat Shah

c M Pathirana b K Rajitha

4-121

18.4

Mohammad Nabi

c D Silva b M Theekshana

5-201

26.3

Karim Janat

c D Karunaratne b D Wellalage

6-234

31.1

Hashmatullah Shahidi

c K Rajitha b D Wellalage

7-237

31.5

Najibullah Zadran

c (sub D Hemantha) b K Rajitha

8-276

35.4

Mujeeb Ur Rahman

c S Samarawickrama b D Silva

9-289

37.1

Fazalhaq Farooqi

lbw b D Silva

10-289

37.4

Match Info

Date & Time

05 Sep, 03:00 PM IST

Venue

Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

Match

6th ODI,

Umpires

Asif Yaqoob (Pakistan), Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand), Langton Rusere (Zimbabwe, TV)

Referee

David Boon (Australia)

Toss

Sri Lanka elected to bat

Player of the Match Kusal Mendis

92(84)

Lucky Winner pritinkd1812

Commentary

That brings us to the end of our coverage of a cricket match for the ages. Sri Lanka, after an extremely tumultuous ride, have made it to the Super Fours of the Asia Cup, and join the old boys - Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. The super fours are set to start tomorrow itself, with Pakistan taking on Bangladesh. Keep an eye on our tabs for our coverage of the same, and a whole lot more! This is Rajarshi, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator for the day, Mohul. See you tomorrow!

Kusal Mendis is the Player Of The Match! Here's what he has to say: I batted really well in the first 10 overs. Charith and Dhananjaya supported in a lot of areas. Our bowlers did really well on this pitch, it was a great pitch. Very hard to bowl in some areas with four fielders out. Very good catches from our fielders today. Wellalage bowled really well, he bowled the 3 overs and took 2 wickets. Matheesha bowled well with the new ball as well. Going forward, hopefully, bowlers will do a lot better as a unit.

Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka captain: It's a tough one. It's very hard to defend such a total with four fielders. Dhanajaya and my wickets were the important part of the game. Kusal and Charith built the innings, but we couldn't finish the innings well. Credit to Theekshana and Wellalage, they provided a great finish and got us to 292. Kasun's couple of wickets opened things for us. Nabi played an incredible innings today, which almost took the game away from us, however, we managed to come away with the win.

Matheesha Pathirana, Sri Lanka: Very tough game, but we managed to qualify, and that was our aim. Really happy with that. Keeping calm and smiling is all that I can do under pressure, that's why I do it. I try to be calm. I need to take responsibility in the absence of senior players, I try my best, and I will do it.

Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan captain): Very disappointed at the moment. We fought well but could not get over the line. I am proud of the way we played today, especially the way we batted towards the end. I think we have played well in the last couple of years in this format of the game. We are still learning and have to get up to the mark. We had a lot of positives in this tournament. We are quite close to the World Cup and will have to employ the learnings we had in this tournament. We are thankful for all the support that we have received. I am sorry that we could not qualify for the Super Four stage.

Match summary:

Sri Lanka win by 2 runs

Kusal Mendis 92(84) | Kasun Rajitha 4/79 (10)
Mohammad Nabi 65(32) | Gulbadin Naib 4/60 (10)

The Afghanistan dressing room is full of sombre faces at the moment. It's extremely staggering as to how they manage to inflict such contrasting emotions and perceptions amongst themselves, their own fans and the fans of the sport - all over the course of just one cricket match! At one stage, Mohammad Nabi, smashing the living daylights out of the white Kookaburra, was on course to play the innings of his life, having had ample support from Hashmatullah Shahidi at the other end.

With their two most senior batters on song, Afghanistan's qualification for the super fours seemed inevitable. But Sri Lanka, who have been in such situations far too often over the years, just found ways to get back in the game. Barring Rajitha, this Sri Lankan attack is a lot more inexperienced, and as a collective unit, they went on to show immense nerves at crunch moments of the game.

Lack of match awareness from Afghanistan towards the latter stages of the run-chase cost them dearly - there were a few reckless shots every now and then, but the worst exhibit of the same took place when the equation went from three off one to six off three after Mujeeb got out. Farooqi channeled his inner Mark Boucher, and for some inexplicable reason, looked to block out the over, failing at that as well.

Kasun Rajitha went for plenty, but he was the one who provided Sri Lanka with the definitive breakthroughs over his 10-over spell. Rajitha ensured the prevention of fireworks from Afghanistan's opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran with some movement off the air, getting the former to nick off and the latter to drag on off successive overs. Gulbadin, having been promoted up the order to give some impetus to his side in the powerplay, went on the charge, and was complemented elegantly by Rahmat Shah.

The 30-year old Afghanistan batter found a way to score quick runs while being incredibly classy and ravishing at it. Pathirana broke the stand with a skiddy length delivery that trapped Naib in front, but Rahmat, then joined by Shahidi, kept going after the Lankan bowling. Shahidi, who's not known to score quickly, seemed like a different player today, piercing the gaps at will.

The Afghanistan captain could afford to settle at the non-striker's end once Mohammad Nabi replaced Rahmat Shah at the crease. In our wildest dreams, we couldn't have imagined what was to follow. Mohammad Nabi seemed completely out of this world, taking the viewers to a different dimension with the kind of innings he played. It was like a movie being played out - Nabi went for slog after slog, regardless of any bowler that came in his way, and seemed to be on a mission to guide Afghanistan to more prosperity while bringing up the fastest ODI fifty by an Afghan batter in ODI cricket.

Karim Janat looked to replicate some of Nabi's magic after the veteran Afghan marvel departed, but Sri Lanka clawed their way back in the tournament over the course of five deliveries. It was 20-year-old Dunith Wellalage who pumped life back in the Sri Lankan camp and their supporters with back-to-back wickets - that of both set batters, and with the equation akin to the death overs of a T20 game, it was Rashid Khan and Najibullah Zadran vs Sri Lanka from thereon.

The duo did go on to make a match out of it till the very end. Najibullah was clinical and clear with which parts of the ground he wanted to strike the ball towards, until he holed out to deep square with 16 needed off 9 for a spot in the Super Fours. Rashid kept swinging and swinging until the equation read 3 off 1, but with him being defied of the strike with the change of over, despite his best efforts, Afghanistan's journey in the 2023 Asia Cup was always going to end.

They had a second chance at it when Mujeeb got out - Afghanistan needed to get to 295 off the next three deliveries but Fazalhaq Farooqi, Afghanistan's number 11, knew nothing about it. No one told him about it even as he walked out - he and Rashid thought that their tournament was over, and possibly, it wasn't until the handshakes were taking place did the Afghanistan camp find out about it.

There's only one emotion that goes out for the Afghanistan national cricket team - one of sorrow. In their decade-long history of top-flight international cricket, they have provided us with so, so many unforgettable moments, and yet, they just find a way to capitulate under pressure! Sri Lanka prevail after a nail-biting, absolutely epic game of cricket, and join their age-old rivals India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the Super Fours of the 2023 Asia Cup!

38.0

37.4 Dhananjaya de Silva to Fazalhaq Farooqi, STONE DEAD LBW! SRI LANKA WIN THIS GAME AND QUALIFY! Afghanistan can only blame themselves! Fired in on off and middle. Farooqi tries to work it away to the on side but fails to connect. He gets rapped on the pads. The bowler appeals and the umpire raises his finger. Farooqi takes the review. UltraEdge confirms that there is no bat involved. Ball tracking shows that the stumps are hitting. Hence, Farooqi is GONE! Afghanistan have messed things up badly here. They could still have qualified had they got to 295 but it was clear that they had not received the message. As I said before, the Afghans have only themselves to blame!

Fazalhaq Farooqi LBW b Dhananjaya de Silva 0 (3b, 0x4, 0x6)

37.3 Dhananjaya de Silva to Fazalhaq Farooqi, another juicy tossed delivery, and Farooqi defends it well! BIG CONFUSION!

Clearly, they haven't been conveyed the real message! That is simply catastrophic!

37.2 Dhananjaya de Silva to Fazalhaq Farooqi, full toss on off and middle! Farooqi merely pats it back! What is he doing?

Fazalhaq Farooqi, RHB, comes to the crease

Afghanistan are out of the 2023 Asia Cup....or are they? They now need 295 - one six from the next three deliveries - to get to the super fours!

37.1 Dhananjaya de Silva to Mujeeb Ur Rahman, GONE! SRI LANKA QUALIFY FOR SUPER FOUR! Tossed up at a length outside off, turns back in. Rahman slogs it straight to the hands of the fielder at long on for a simple catch! Oh hang on, Afghanistan are still in with a chance! If they hit a six off the next three balls, they can qualify!

Mujeeb Ur Rahman c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Dhananjaya de Silva 0 (3b, 0x4, 0x6)

Right then. Last ball...

Dhananjaya de Silva (1-0-12-0) is back into the attack

While that might have gone to the boundary, with 3 runs needed off 1 delivery, and Mujeeb being on strike, that might not have been a favourable outcome for Afghanistan.

overs

289 /8 score

runs

Rashid Khan *

27 (16)

Mujeeb Ur Rahman

0 (2)

Dunith Wellalage

2 /36

36.6 Dunith Wellalage to Rashid Khan, INSIDE EDGE FOR FOUR! Fired in on middle and leg. Khan tries to heave it away to the on side but gets a massive inside edge past the keeper for a boundary! Afghanistan need just three runs off one ball to win and qualify for the Super Four stage! However, Mujeeb Ur Rahman will be on strike.

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