Twitter Reactions: Sri Lanka pulls off epic chase against Afghanistan to start Super Four on high

Sri Lankan batters were unstoppable and contributed equally to pull off a difficult chase.

By Vaishnavi Thiagarajan Iyer

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Sri Lanka Team
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Sri Lanka Team (Photo Source: Twitter)

A lot happened in the first game of the Asia Cup 2022 Super Four, and Sri Lanka and Afghanistan put up a great competition at Sharjah. Though Afghanistan had defeated Sri Lanka once in this tournament, the islanders did not stay quite this time around, and carried their winning momentum to win the cliffhanger by four wickets.

Afghanistan played brilliantly throughout their batting innings. After being put to bat first by Sri Lanka, the openers got off on a high note as they scored runs at the run rate of 10 per over at a point in time during the powerplay. As they settled in, Dilshan Madushanka got Sri Lanka the much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Hazratullah Zazai and putting a full stop to the partnership in the fifth over.

But what followed next was exactly what Afghanistan needed, and exactly the opposite of what Sri Lanka had desired. Opening batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran shared a brilliant 93-run partnership for the second wicket, thereby ruining Sri Lanka’s bowling strategies. Gurbaz walked off in the 16th over, but before that, he played a magnificent 45-ball 84-run knock studded with four fours and six sixes.

That is when Afghanistan’s batting order started falling apart. Ibrahim Zadran played a slow game and ended up scoring 40 runs off 38 deliveries. Apart from Najibullah Zadran’s cameo of 17(10), the middle-order batters could not add many runs in the death overs and Afghanistan ended up scoring 175/6 in their 20 overs. Madushanka finished with two wickets, while Maheesh Theekshana and Asitha Fernando picked up one each.

Sri Lanka batters pull off an entertaining chase at Sharjah

Sri Lanka rectified their mistakes from the previous two games and the opening batters sailed through the powerplay with ease. They had an uphill task ahead of them given the pitch at Sharjah but their approach to the game from the beginning was good. Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka added 57 runs in the powerplay and kept their side in a comfortable position before Naveen-ul-Haq dismissed Mendis.

Nissanka struggled a bit, but jest when he got going he was taken down by Mujeeb ur Rahman. But even after losing two wickets, Sri Lanka were in a comfortable position midway into their chase. Two more wickets fell as Charith Asalanka and Shanaka found their way back to the pavilion and Sri Lanka required 49 off the final five overs.

It was a difficult task for the middle-order batters, but Danushka Gunathilaka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa anchored the innings and pulled Sri Lanka out of the misery. The turning point in the game was when Samiullah Shinwari dropped Rajapaksa in the 16th over at the most crucial point in the game. The batters looked very confident, and Gunathilaka even went on to hit Rashid Khan for a boundary when he came out to bowl his final over.

Rashid was furious. Though he dismissed the in-form Gunathilaka, Sri Lanka looked unbothered as Wanindu Hasaranga kept the momentum going and Rashid ended up conceding 39 runs in his spell. The batters kept finding the gaps and sent the ball towards the fence, thereby chasing down the score with 5 balls to spare. After losing their opening group stage match against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka plotted the revenge perfectly and bagged a four-wicket win.

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Asia Cup 2023AfghanistanSri Lanka