Asia Cup 2022 Championship: A dominating victory by Afghanistan to start the Asia Cup

Sri Lanka had a horrible start as they were reduced to 5/3 in the first two overs. On winning the toss, Afghanistan called Sri Lanka to bat, and Fazalhaq Farooqi, with the new ball, brutalized Sri Lanka from the first over. He took two back-to-back wickets in the first over of the inning. 

With Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka departed, Danushka Gunathilaka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa counter-attacked Afghanistan's bowling attack. They both hit a flurry of boundaries to fetch 44 off 32 balls. However, Mujeeb Ur Rahman broke the crucial stand, after which Sri Lanka kept losing wickets. 

In no time, they slipped from 49/4 to 75/9, which included horrible run-outs for Sri Lankan batters. A valuable contribution of 31 runs came towards the end by Chamika Karunaratne to post a target of 106 at the end of 19.4 overs.

Fazalhaq Farooqi broke the backbone of Sri Lankan batters by scalping wickets, whereas Rashid Khan, though he remained wicketless, gave an economy of 3 runs. 

Chasing a small target, Afghanistan openers formed a solid start smashing Sri Lankan marquee bowlers with boundaries as they scored 83 runs in 6.1 overs. Wanindu Hasaranga got the breakthrough by tricking Rahmanullah Gurbaz with a googly, but that would not have affected the result. 

Mohammad Nabi "When we decided to bowl first, they used the pitch so well. We were just discussing to hit the right lines, and if we get a bit of swing it will be of use for us. We have a lot of confidence after such a game, hopefully, we can do well next game as well."

Sri Lanka lost the plot with bat and ball slipped in the opening match as Afghanistan registered a huge 8-wicket to have a colourful start in the tournament. A big game to follow is India vs Pakistan on 28th August 2022 in the next fixture of the Asia Cup. 

 

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