Afghanistan's match versus Sri Lanka in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 was a fairytale turned into a nightmare.
As the first team to bat, the Lankan Lions got off to a strong start thanks to the opening partnership of Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne. Later, Kusal Mendis scored 92 runs and laid the foundation. Dunith Wellalage and Maheesh Theekshana made some significant runs towards the conclusion of the first innings as Sri Lanka amassed 291 runs.
Afghanistan's batting performance was subpar, in contrast to Sri Lanka. Hashmatullah Shahidi and Karim Janat assumed command and kept the scorecard updated. Notably, Afghanistan needed to chase the total in 37.1 overs in order to advance to the next round, therefore the team required some firepower. That was provided by seasoned all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, and as a result, the Shahdi-led team got very near to the target. However, Wellalage took two crucial wickets in the middle, which completely altered the situation. In the end, Sri Lanka advanced to the next round while Afghanistan was ousted from the competition after a heartbreaking two-wicket loss.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 291/8 in 50 overs (Kusal Mendis 92, Pathum Nissanka 41, Charith Asalanka 36; Gulbadin Naib 4-60, Rashid Khan 2-63) beat Afghanistan 289 in 37.4 overs (Mohammad Nabi 65, Hashmatullah Shahidi 59, Rahmat Shah 45, Rashid Khan 27*; Kasun Rajitha 4-79, Dhananjaya de Silva 2-12) by 2 runs