Afghanistan Make History As Lanka Bow Out Of Asia Cup

Afghanistan handed fifth-time champions Sri Lanka a 91-run thrashing in their Group B match of the 2018 Asia Cup at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi to book a Super Four spot along with Bangladesh on Monday.

After winning the toss, Afghanistan posted 249 runs with the help of Rahmat Shah's 72. Then the bowlers turned up to dismiss Lanka for 158 all out, thus registering their first ever ODI win over the Lions.

Lanka, who lost their Group B opener to Bangladesh by 137 runs on Saturday at Dubai, are out of the tournament with two defeats. In two games, Lanka has suffered their two worst defeats in Asia Cup in terms of runs. This was also their seventh successive ODI loss in the United Arab Emirates. Lanka has won the tournament in 1986, 1997, 2004, 2005 and 2014.

Defending a fighting total, Afghanistan got a dream start with Mujeeb Ur Rahman trapping Lankan opener Kusal Mendis in front with the second delivery of the innings. But they failed to rein in Upul Tharanga (36) and Dhananjaya de Silva (23) as the left-right handed partnership stitched 54 runs in 77 balls to steady the Lankan ship.

Then a comedy of errors involving the two Lankan batsmen resulted in Afghanistan getting the crucial breakthrough in the 14th over. De Silva, after completing a single off the first ball, took off for the second even as the third man fielder returned the ball to the wicket-keeper Mohammad Shahzad, who whipped the bails off. But Tharanga, hesitant to take the second run, already planted his feet deep inside the crease. With de Silva also at the striker's end, Shahzad waywardly relayed the ball to Gulbadin Naib at the bowler's end, who somehow affected the run-out.

It was followed by a promising 32-run third-wicket stand between Tharanga and Perera, but a Rashid Khan beauty dismissed the all-rounder in the 20th over. The opener too soon departed in the next over, falling to Naib.

Skipper Angelo Mathews tried to revive the innings with a 35-run sixth-wicket stand with Shehan Jayasuriya, but another run-out in the 28th over ended the partnership to leave Lanka tottering at 108/5. That was Lanka's 30th run-out since January 2017.

Then, Afghan bowlers didn't take long to finish the job, dismissing Lanka for 158

All five Afghan bowlers excelled, none conceding more than five an over. But it was Mohammad Nabi who impressed the most with figures of 10-1-30-2. Mujeeb, Naib and Rashid also took two wickets each to set up the comprehensive win.

Earlier in the match, Afghanistan got off to a good start with openers Shahzad (34) and Ihsanullah (45) posting a 57-runs stand in 70 balls. It was followed by two good stands, 50 for the second wicket between Ihsanullah and Rahmat (72) in 78 balls, then run-a-ball 80 for the fourth wicket by Rahmat and Hashmatullah Shahidi (37).

Ihsanullah missed a deserving back-to-back fifty, falling short by five runs, with Akila Dananjaya trapping him in front in the 25th over. The 20-year-old scored 57 against Ireland at Belfast last month. It was Dananjaya's second wicket of the match, having already removed Shahzad in a similar fashion in the 1t2th over.

Shah carried on after the departures of the openers, and the 25th-old reached his 12th ODI fifty with a four off the third ball of 35th over, bowled by Thisara Perera. He, however, failed to reach his fourth hundred. The right-handed batsman was dismissed by Dushmantha Chameera off the first delivery of the 42nd over, caught at long on by Perera. It was Shah's 15th 50+ scored in ODIs, second most for Afghanistan after Shahzad (16).

From 190/4 in the 42nd over, Afghanistan could add only 59 runs in the next 53 balls as Sri Lanka came back strongly in the death overs with Perera taking three wickets in the last over. The right-arm pacer thus completed his fourth five-wicket haul in ODI innings. He returned with figures of 9-0-55-5.

But it was a bad day for Lankan legend Lasith Malinga. The veteran ended up leaking 66 runs from his 10 overs for a return of one wicket. This is the 29th time that he has given away more than 60 runs in an innings, an unwanted world record he now shares with New Zealand's Tim Southee. On the bright side, Malinga got to 500 ODIs in his 105th innings, second slowest to reach the mark after fellow Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan (132).

Dhananjaya, who was ignored for the first match against Bangladesh, was brilliant with his off-spin. The 24-year-old took two wickets for 39 runs.

In the Group A, India will start their title defence with a match-up against minnows Hong Kong on Tuesday at Dubai. Hong Kong already lost to Pakistan.

Brief scores

Man of the match: Rahmat Shah
Afghanistan: 249 all out in 50 overs (Rahmat Shah 72, Ihsanullah Janat 45; Thisara Perera 5/55, Thisara Perera 2/39)
Sri Lanka: 158 all out in 41.2 overs (Upul Tharanga 36, Thisara Perera 28; Mohammad Nabi 2/30, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2/32)