Afghanistan are out of the T20 World Cup, after suffering a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka at the Gabba in Brisbane. Watch England vs Sri Lanka live on Sky Sports Main Event from 8am on November 5.
Wednesday 2 November 2022 06:56, UK
Afghanistan are out of the T20 World Cup, after suffering a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka at the Gabba in Brisbane.
After electing to bat first, Afghanistan scored 144-8 with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (28) and Usman Ghani (27) top scoring.
Wanindu Hasaranga took three wickets for 13 runs, before Dhananjaya de Silva hit 66 not out to see his side home and keep Sri Lanka's hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive.Leg-spinner Hasaranga is the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 13, while de Silva, who is vice-captain, hadn't made a half-century since January 2020.
He shared a 34-run second-wicket partnership with Kusal Mendis to get Sri Lanka off to a good start in the run chase. Mendis got off to a slow start, needing nine deliveries to score his first run, but finished on 25 off 27 deliveries, with two fours and one six.
It was a much better start from Sri Lanka, who lost four wickets for eight runs in their last game inside four overs.
Da Silva was dropped on 39 by Gulbadin Naib and went on to score the winning runs with a cover drive for four off the bowling of Fazalhaq Farooqi.
He finished on 66 not out, a career-best score, and was supported by Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who scored a quick-fire 18 from 13 balls.
Sri Lanka, who won the Asia Cup in August, will need to beat England in their final match on Saturday and hope other results go their way.
Afghanistan play Australia on Friday, in a must-win match for the Aussies. They have lost two matches and earned a point after their games against New Zealand and Ireland were rained off.
They could be without star bowler Rashid Khan, who took 2-31 against Sri Lanka after he appeared to jar his leg while fielding on the boundary.
"Last 10 days, we didn't play a game, so we did not get any momentum in the tournament," Afghanistan's captain Mohammad Nabi said.
"We have one more game and hopefully we do well."
