Vanindu Hasranga First led a motivated bowling effort Dhananjay de Silva A brilliant half-century came as Sri Lanka kept semi-final hopes alive with a six-wicket win over Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup at the Gabba in Brisbane on Tuesday. Mystery spinner Hasaranga (3/13) and fast bowler Lahiru Kumara (2/30) shared five wickets between themselves to restrict Afghanistan to 144 for 8. Dhananjaya then smashed an unbeaten 66 off 42 balls on Sri Lanka’s innings as the defending Asia Cup champions crossed the line with nine balls to spare.
With this win, Sri Lanka have moved up to the third place in Group 1. Afghanistan, on the other hand, are out of the race for the semi-finals.
Defending a modest total, Sri Lanka got off to a good start but Mujeeb ur Rahman (2/24) took a leading edge to mark the end pathum nissanka (10) Putting Sri Lanka under pressure. Fazlhaq Farooqui (1/22) Throws a maiden to tighten the screws in the next over.
Although, Kusal Mendis (25) hit boundaries one after the other in the next over, both over midwicket as Sri Lanka scored 28 for 1 in the powerplay.
Rashid Khan (2/31) hits Mendis in his first over for a pre-determined sweep, but over the top-edge to catch the keeper.
While the Afghans tried to build up the pressure by bowling the dots, Sri Lanka continued to score runs at a healthy pace, hitting boundaries and sixes each time.
Rashid’s second over went for 14 as de Silva hit a boundary at fine leg and hit the star spinner for a six at deep mid-wicket.
Dhananjay continued the attack with a six Mohammad Nabiq To keep the required run rate within seven in the next over.
together with Charit Aslanka (19), Dhananjaya shared a 54-run partnership, followed by a 42-run partnership with Bhanuka Rajapaksa (18) to give Sri Lanka victory.
Earlier, while the Afghans were able to build a few partnerships at the top, Sri Lanka did well at regular intervals.
The ball swinged in the first two overs but after that the Sri Lankan bowlers struggled to get their length right. rahmanullah gurbani (28) Played the role of attacker.
The wicketkeeper-batsman danced and registered the first maximum with a brilliant straight drive off Kasun Rajitha.
The Afghans then went on to score 42 runs in the first six overs with three more fours and a six.
However, just after the powerplay, Kumara scored the first breakthrough for Sri Lanka.
Gurbaz looked big but there was just enough momentum as the ball crossed the gap between the bat and the pad and hit the stumps.
The spinner was then able to slow down the proceedings after wicket, but Usman Ghani (27) hit Kumara for a six at long off.
Looking east, Ghani tried to go for it once again in the 11th over off Hasranga’s delivery, which was brought back into the attack.
However, the afghan was done by a googly which had a bounce and a touch of the captain Dasun Shanaka Took it over deep mid wicket.
Ibrahim Zadrani (22) Kumara’s second victim in the 13th over.
With the wicket in hand, Mohammad Nabi (13) sends a slow move for extra cover. But the captain could not stay in the middle for long as Afghanistan failed to set the flames on fire for the loss of five wickets for 40 runs in the last 30 balls in the death overs.
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Sri Lanka was once against the guilty of being muddy on the field.
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