Powered by Dhananjaya de Silva’s first fifty at a world cup, Sri Lanka registered a six-wicket win against Afghanistan in the Group 1 Super 12 fixture at Gabba. With two points courtesy of two washouts in four games, Afghanistan are now out of contention for a final four spot at the 2022 T20 World Cup. By the end of the contest, Sri Lanka stood third in the points table below New Zealand and Australia, with a NRR (-0.46) worse than England’s (+0.24).
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Chasing 144, Sri Lanka looked on the backfoot having lost both the openers to Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan before crossing the fifty mark and with the pitch offering help to the spinners.
Stability was restored for the Asian champions when Dhananjaya stitched together a 54-run stand for the third wicket with Charith Asalanka (19). Rashid would come to Afghanistan’s rescue once again as Asalanka was caught at long on trying to up the run rate.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa (18) added another 42 runs with Sri Lanka’s number three to all but finish the game before falling to the other Afghanistan wicket taker Mujeeb with just two more needed to round up the chase. Dhananjaya carved Mujeeb over extra cover for four to wrap up the must win game in Brisbane.
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Hasaranga shifts the pendulum
Earlier, after winning the toss and opting to bat first, Afghanistan had got off to a solid start in the powerplay, courtesy of Rahmanullah Gurbaz (28 off 24) and Usman Ghani (27 off 27) adding 42 runs in the first six overs.
It was the first time in five attempts at this world cup that a team had remained wicketless in Powerplay at Gabba. However, Lahiru Kumara would clean Gurbaz first ball after the field restrictions were lifted to provide Sri Lanka, and opening. One that tournament’s leading wicket taker, Wanindu Hasaranga didn’t miss out on.
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The 25-year-old choked the flow of runs for the Afghans, conceding only 13 in his spell of four overs, picking a 3fer to take his tally to 13 at the World Cup.
Hasaranga, who was also the leading wicket taker in last year’s tournament in UAE with 16 scalps, ensured Afghanistan didn’t reach the 150 mark, by picking two wickets in the last over. With both Rashid and Mujeeb eager to come down the track and go for big runs, the leggie used the bounce off the surface and pitched it short to clean the former and allow Mendis to stump the latter.
