DUBAI: Afghanistan sealed a convincing win over Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the curtain raiser of the Asia Cup which commenced in the UAE on Saturday,Aug.27.
Afghanistan stunned the Sri Lankan batsman with lethal bowling attack restricting Sri Lanka to a mere 105 runs in 19.4 overs. Fazalhaq Farooqi took 3 wickets for just 11 runs off 3.4 overs while Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Skipper Nabi got 2 wickets each for Afghanistan. Bhanuka Rajapaksa hit 38 runs and Chamika Karunaratne scored 31 runs to allow Sri Lanka to go past 100 runs.
Afghanistan chased 106 runs for the loss of only 2 wickets and reached the score in the 11th over. R. Gurbaz (40 runs) and Hazaratullah Zazai (37 runs) put together an opening partnership of 83 runs in quick time (6.1 overs) to thrash any hopes of Sri Lanka making any inroads. Afghanistan has started the Asia Cup campaign in style leading Group B’s score card while Sri Lanka recorded its second heaviest defeat in terms of balls remaining.
The opening encounter of Group A between India and Pakistan will be played on Sunday in Dubai. (RZ) Image credit : ESPN cricinfo
