A fairytale turned out to be a nightmare for Afghanistan in their match against Sri Lanka in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. Batting first, the Lankan Lions started well as both openers Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne managed to give them a perfect start. Later on, Kusal Mendis hit 92 runs and set the platform. Towards the fag end of the first innings, Dunith Wellalage and Maheesh Theekshana contributed some valuable runs as Sri Lanka posted 291 runs on board.
Losing skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said:
Very disappointed about it (the loss and elimination). We fought well, we gave our 100%. Proud of the team for they way we played, the way we batted. I think in the last couple of years we played good cricket in the ODI format also. We are still learning a lot. We had a lot of positives in this tournament. We are very near to the World Cup, what we did wrong here we will learn and be better for World Cup. Our crowd is always supporting us. We are thankful to them. We tried tour best to give something back to them today, we feel sorry for them.
Winning skipper Dasun Shanaka said:
It’s a tough one, very hard to defend such a total. DDS and my wicket – that was the important part of the game. Mendis and Asalanka built the innings really well. We didn’t chip today. Credit to Theekshana and Wellalage – they played brilliantly to finish on 291. Kasun opened the door for us. Nabi played an outstanding innings which almost took away the game from us. We found a way to win.
POTM Kusal Mendis said:
We batted well in the first ten overs and then in the middle overs. I did my best today for my today. We were under pressure. The bowlers did a great job. With four fielders outside the circle, it’s very hard to bowl. We did well in all three departments and that’s why we won. Wellalage bowled really well, he got two wickets in an over. Matheesha also bowled well, he’s improving.
