It can only be Afghanistan who delievers such kind of thrilling matches. For a moment, it looked like Afghanistan will get the job done, especially when Mohammad Nabi was in full flow, however, Sri Lanka held their nerves and somehow with narrow margin, escaped the unprecedented defeat.
We didn’t see any competitive matches till now, one between India and Pakistan was meant to deliever some thrilling chase but unfortunately, rain God had other plans. But this match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan was super exciting, nail biting, thrilling and in the end, everyone felt for Afghanistan, they should have made it to the super four with all their efforts and pushing they did.
Sri Lanka batted and posted formidable total on board. Sri Lanka’s most reliable batter who is Kusal Mendis played a recovery knock that gave Sri Lanka upper hand in the game. However, only because of best batting efforts of 64 runs partnership between Dunith Wellalage and Maheesh Theekshan, Sri Lanka managed to reach 291. Afghanistan could have done a better job with the ball and their chasing would have been easier.
Mohammad Nabi was only phenomenal with the bat but he also bowled extremely well, conceding only 35 runs in 10 overs when no other bowler has economy rate of less than 6. This was great bowling performance by Afghanistan bowlers except the last few overs when couldn’t break the threatning partnership.
Afghanistan would have preferred the chase on a different note because they lost both of their openers in first 5 overs. Gulbadin Naib and Rahmat Shah played aggresively as long as they were there, this meant that they knew Afghanistan’s chance of qualification to super four and there was only one way to do it.
Things changed radically when Mohammad Nabi found his mojo, his innings was a match defining one the thing Afghanistan missed a proper finisher. A few of them can play quick innings but someone on song was needed to bat till the end, that would have worked wonders for Afghanistan.
Conquererd but Not Defeated
Afghanistan is a competitive team, let’s accept this fact first. Yes, they can’t produce that consistent match winning performances but they are hard nosed competitors, really passionate about their team and they do play like a good spirited team. That’s a good sign of improvement, the Afghanistan Cricket board doesn’t have much that much sponsership or traning facilities yet they keep fighting and giving hard times to the so called big teams.
Unfortunately, the Asia Cup 2023 campaign ended for Afghanistan as they lost to Sri Lanka by 2 wickets but this is another great day for cricket in general. ICC might look into providing equal funds and opportunity to the teams like Afghanistan because there is definite potential in them to grow and become one of the best teams in the world.
