Asia Cup 2018: Afghanistan record historic win to knock Sri Lanka out

In what could be called the first major upset of the 2018 Asia Cup Afghanistan defeated five-time champions Sri Lanka by 91 runs to knock them out of the competition at Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Monday.

Following the massive 137-run loss to Bangladesh in their opening Group B match in the competition, Sri Lanka needed a win to survive. But chasing 250, they were bowled out for a paltry 158 against Afghanistan.

The spinning-trio of Rashid Khan (2-26), Mohammad Nabi (2-30) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2-32) took two wickets each, while fast bowler Gulbadin Naib took another two as Afghanistan marched to their first ever victory against Sri Lanka in three ODI matches. The Afghans had earlier lost to the Lankans in the 2014 Asia Cup and the ICC World Cup a year later.

Opting to bat first, Afghanistan made a fighting 249 in 50 overs. They were given a solid start by the opening duo of Mohammad Shahzad (34) and Ihsanullah Janat (45) before Rahmat Shah anchored the innings with the top-score of 72. He first stitched a 50-run partnership for the second wicket with Janat, before adding another 80 Hashmatullah Shahidi (37).

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The quick wicket of skipper Asghar Afghan for one seemed to have put the Afghans in a spot of bother at 110-3. But Rahmat together with Shahidi reconstructed the innings. Standing at 190-3 at the end of 41 overs, they then looked set for a big score but a quick flurry of wickets from Thisara Perera – who finished with five wickets – saw Afghanistan being reduced to 227-7.

A handy knock of 13 from Rashid Khan and some Aftab and Nabi somehow carried them to a respectable score of 249 all out at the end of 50 overs.

Sri Lanka was then off to a worst possible start when Kushal Mendis was dismissed for a golden duck in just the second ball of their innings by Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Upul Tharanga and Dhananjaya de Silva then shared a 53-run partnership to keep hopes of a victory alive. But the unfortunate run-out of the latter following a mis-communiacation with Tharanga triggered another collapse. Soon from 54/1, the Lankans went down to 88/4 at one stage.

Captain Angelo Matthews (22), Shehan Jayasuriya (14) and Thisara Perera (28) got good starts but none could go on to score anything big as Lanka were bundled out for 158 in 41.2 overs.

It was island nation’s 30^th defeat in 40 matches since January 2017 and plagued by injuries more than the retirement of their former greats, Sri Lanka have bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.