Twitter Reactions: Dominant Afghanistan annihilate Sri Lanka to kickstart Asia Cup 2022

Afghanistan's next contest will be against Bangladesh on August 30 at Sharjah.

By Vaishnavi Thiagarajan Iyer

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Afghanistan Team
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Afghanistan Team (Photo Source: Twitter)

The much-anticipated Asia Cup finally marked its return and took the world of cricket by storm. While the first game between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan was expected to be a thrilling contest, it turned out to be a one-sided affair. The bowlers did the job for the Afghanistan team and made it look like a piece of cake as they won by a whopping eight-wicket margin.

The game started with Mohammad Nabi winning the toss and putting the Sri Lankans to bat first. The call was made perfectly as the pitch, which was supportive of the pacers, did its job and favored them brilliantly. Fazalhaq Farooqi started the destruction as he bagged two wickets on consecutive deliveries in the very first over, handing Sri Lanka an early blow.

Soon followed Pathum Nissanka’s controversial wicket, which left the batter, the Sri Lankan team, the management, and the fans in complete disbelief. Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Danushka Gunathilaka played an important role in stitching the innings together after the poor start and the duo accumulated 20 runs off the final over of the powerplay to stand at 41/3.

But just then, the spin trio of Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan came into the attack and changed the face of the game, again. Just when it looked like the game might slip from Afghanistan’s hand, the three spin-masters showcased brilliance with the ball during their respective spells. Alongside restricting the batters from scoring many runs, they also kept picking wickets at regular intervals and broke Sri Lanka’s momentum.

The lower-order batters tried to play a composed knock, but Afghanistan bowlers dished them all out in the final over as the Lankans finished off scoring a below-par total of 105 runs in 19.4 overs. A couple of brilliant run-outs by the alert fielders also played a major part. Farooqi was commendable throughout the innings and picked up three wickets. Mujeeb and skipper Nabi picked up two wickets each, and while Rashid Khan went wicketless, he maintained his economy at 3.00.

Heartbreak for Sri Lanka

Only a miracle could have saved Sri Lanka from losing the contest, and unfortunately, for them, it didn’t happen. To add to their misery, Afghanistan openers Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz wreaked havoc from the word go. They were on a boundary-hitting spree and went on to put up a massive 83-run partnership before Gurbaz walked off scoring a quick-fire 18-ball 40.

Half of the chase was already covered, and all that Ibrahim Zadran had to do was go with the flow. He was a great support to Zazai, who did most of the scoring bit, before being run out in the 10th over. The batters finished off the chase with ease in just 10.1 overs as Afghanistan won the game by eight wickets.

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Asia Cup 2023AfghanistanSri Lanka