Sri Lanka send Afghanistan crashing out of Asia Cup

ATLANTA (Pajhwok): Sri Lanka escaped with a two-run victory and qualified for the Super 4 in the Asia Cup after Afghanistan somewhat miscalculated its chase of a tough target in the last group game on Tuesday.

Afghanistan was poised to knock Sri Lanka out of the tournament on net run-rate as it needed to achieve a 292-run target in 37.1 to advance from Group B with Bangladesh.

Mohammad Nabi increased Afghan hopes with a blistering 65 off 32 balls as he raised his country’s fastest half-century off 24 balls before he fell in the 27th over when Dhananjaya de Silva made a brilliant running catch in the outfield.

Karim Jannat (22), Najibullah Zadran (23) and Rashid Khan (27 not out) kept pushing on Sri Lanka pace and spin with little cameos before Mujeeb Ur Rahman holed out at long on as Afghanistan slumped to 289-9 in 37.1 overs.

Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott has confirmed that his team was unaware of the calculations that meant they were in with a chance of qualifying for the Asia Cup Super Four even after they had failed to reach their target of 292 in the stipulated 37.1 overs against Sri Lanka.

Afghanistan apparently was unaware of the calculation that it could still make it to the Super 4 had they reached 295 over the next three balls.

No. 11 batter Fazalhaq Farooqi defended the next two balls of part-time spinner de Silva before getting trapped lbw off the next ball that left Rashid stranded at the non-striker’s end and Afghanistan was bowled out for 289 in 37.4 overs.

Earlier Nabi showed plenty of aggression against the pace of Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana by hitting five sixes and six boundaries in his knock before he finally holed out with Afghanistan still needing 91 runs for victory.

Fast bowler Kasun Rajitha picked up 4-79, that included two early wickets, but the fast bowler went for plenty against Afghan batters, who kept Sri Lanka bowlers under pressure with aggressive shots.

“Very disappointed about it,” said Hashmatullah Shahidi, who also scored 59 off 66 balls. “We fought well (and) we gave our 100 percent. I am proud of the team, the way they played and fought till the last ball.”