Sharjah: Sri Lankan batsmen showed great tactical skills in yet another difficult run-chase and lost Afghanistan By four wickets in the first Super 4 match of the Asia Cup here on Saturday. It was a brilliant bowling effort at death that restricted Sri Lanka to 175 for 6 with only 37 runs in the last five overs despite a brilliant 84 off 45 balls by Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
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In reply, Sri Lanka chased down the target in 19.1 overs with several small but impressive contributions which sealed the issue for them. This was the highest run chase in a T20 International in Sharjah. Like a brilliant bowling at death, 51 runs were scored for the Lankans in the overs between 15-18 and it proved to be a game-changer.
Kusal Mendis (36 off 19 balls) started from where he left off against Bangladesh on the second day as he launched the opposition’s best bowler Rashid Khan, smashing him for two consecutive sixes as he went inside the powerplay. 17 runs came in the over. And before that Mendis had the most Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
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All three sixes were hit between deep mid wicket and deep square leg. His opening partner Pathum Nisanka (35 off 28 balls) also provided solid support as 62 were added for the opening stand.
However, it was Danuska Gunathilaka (33 off 20 balls) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (31 off 14 balls) whose 2.3-over stand of 32 runs changed the color of the game. His guts had a great impact in the end result of the game as he hit sixes and found the gap with ease. He hit six fours and three sixes in 34 balls. The Afghan bowlers, who are not always used to dealing with pressure situations, faltered in the end and Rashid’s poor day (1/39 in 4 overs) took its toll.
Taking to the bat, young opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz displayed his flamboyant strokeplay as his innings was the cornerstone of Afghanistan’s competitive total of 175 for 6. However, Afghanistan will be a bit disappointed as only 37 runs were scored in the last five overs and five were lost. With the dismissal of Gurbaz, the wickets put some kind of brake on the run flow in a jiffy. The 20-year-old right-armer, who was part of IPL champion team Gujarat Titans, hit half a dozen sixes and combined with Ibrahim Zadran (40) to add 93 runs in just 10.4 overs to take Afghanistan to a more than respectable total. in sharjah Cricket field.
The evening belonged to Gurbaaz, who got a piece of luck, as Danushka Gunathilaka’s leg was touched by the rope when he went to hit a second successive six off mystery spinner Mahesh Thikshana, hitting his first six. However, there was no looking back after that, although the right-handed batsman did not use his legs much against the spinner.
Wanindu Hasaranga’s slog sweep over the cow corner was a sight to behold and so were Chamika Karunaratne’s two sixes which were all about hand-eye coordination and maximum power with minimal leg movement. The half-dozen sixes hit by him also featured pull shot off pacer Asitha Fernando and once he was dismissed, the Sri Lankan bowlers felt a sense of relief on a ground where the side boundaries are really few.
Zadran, however, got some setbacks and so did Rashid Khan (9) to take the score close to 180 at the end of Afghanistan’s innings. While spinners Thekshana (1/29) and Hasaranga gave 0/23 in 4 overs. Scoring only 52 runs in their eight overs, it was captain Dasun Shanaka (0/22 in 2 overs) and Karunaratne (0/29 in 2 overs), who conceded 51 runs in four overs for the “fifth bowler’s quota”.
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