Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka: At the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the final league match of the Asia Cup 2023 was played today between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. In this gripping thriller, Sri Lanka triumphed by defeating Afghanistan by two runs. Afghanistan’s hopes of making the top four for the Asia Cup in 2023 were dashed with this loss.
Sri Lankan captain Kusal Mendis elected to bat after winning the toss, batting first Sri Lanka scored 291 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the stipulated 50 overs. On behalf of the team, wicketkeeper batsman Kusal Mendis scored the highest 92 runs, during his innings he hit six fours and three sixes. For Afghanistan, Gulbadin Naib took the maximum four wickets while Rashid Khan got two successes.
Chasing the target of 291 runs, Afghanistan’s team was all-out for 289 runs in 37.4 overs. The beginning of the Afghanistan team was nothing special. Both the opener batsmen Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran played innings of four and seven runs respectively. All-rounder Mohammad Nabi top-scored for the team with an inning of 65 runs. The special thing about his innings was that it came in just 32 balls with the help of six fours and four sixes.
Afghanistan’s star player Rashid Khan stood at the other end after scoring an unbeaten 27 off 16 balls and could not save the match due to frequent falling wickets. Rashid stood helpless on the other side of the wicket.
Present Points table of Asia Cup 2023
Group A Points Table:
| Group A | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | Pts | NRR | ||
| Pakistan (Q) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | +4.760 | ||
| India (Q) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | +1.028 | ||
| Nepal | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -3.572 |
*As updated on September 5 after the Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka fixture.
Group B Points Table:
| Group B | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | Pts | NRR | ||
| Sri Lanka (Q) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.951 | ||
| Bangladesh (Q) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | +0.373 | ||
| Afghanistan | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1.780 |
Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka Playing 11
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Charith Asalanka, Samarawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana
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