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Asia Cup 2022: Afghanistan beats Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in tournamnet opener

 





Asia Cup opened up in style when Afghanistan bamboozled Sri Lanka by winning the tournament opener by 8 wickets. The foundation of the match was set up by Fazalhaq Farooqi, who along with the Afghani spinners never allowed Sri Lanka to counter attack. With Sri Lanka managing to score just 105 runs, Afghanistan made sure to chase down the target in 10.1 overs.

The Power Play
The Afghan campaign was started by left arm pace bowler, Fazalhaq Farooqi who kept getting swing off the pitch. Farooqi would bowl two outswing deliveries to the left hander, Kusal Mendis, who would than be surprised with an inswing delivery which went on to hit the pads straight. With the on field umpire being reluctant, captain Nabi reviewed and the decision which was reversed. Charith Asalanka would come to bat only for Farooqi to bowl an inswing to the right hander which hit the pads and this time the umpire was confident that it was out.

Naveen ul Haq would than also pick up the wicket of Pathum Nissanka who tried to slog the delivery but on the appeal of the keeper, it was given out. Farooqi would return to bowl his hattrick ball by bowling a yorker, only for Gunathilaka to play it off easily. Sri Lanka would fight back in the final over of the powerplay by smashing 20 runs of Azmatullah Omarzai.

Umpiring Controversy
By the first 2 overs, all three umpires had got their decisions wrong. The main controversy erupted when Pathun Nisanka would play and miss the delivery. Wicket keeper Gurbaz appealed for a caught behind and the pacer Naveen ul Haq also appealed. The umpire gave it out immediately. Nasanka took his time and consulted with his partner who than decided to review the decision at the last second.
However, when the replay was shown, there was no spike on the snickometer when the ball crossed the path of the bat. But the slight tremors, that existed even before the ball crossed, convinced the umpire for the decision to be out.




The Spinners
With the seamers opening the flood gates of the wickets, Afghanistan had no issue when introducing the spinners. Mujeeb Ur Rehman and Nabi would share 2 wickets each while Sri Lanka kept on losing wickets. With pressure on Sri Lanka, Rashid Khan would easily bowl his 4 overs just for 12 runs with no Sri Lankan batsman daring to attack him.

Sri Lankan's Resistance
While wickets tumbled, Sri Lanka tried to counter attack. First Bhanuka Rajapaksa tried to attack with boundaries against Omarzai and the spinners, than Karunaratne tried to anchor the innings as the other end kept on losing wickets. He would also depart as the last batsmen by getting bowled by Farooqi.

Afghanistan's Fielding
Karim Jannat would drop an easy catch when Omarzai was being attacked. However, the Afghanis would pulled themselves back in by diving around and saving the boundaries. At one point in the match, they would gather two back to back run outs. First Nabi would get a direct hit on the strikers end and remove the danger man Rajapaksa. After which Theekshana would come out, achieved the same feet when Omarzai would throw the ball to Gurbaz who would gather the ball and use his aerobatic skills to dive into the stumps.

Hard Hitting Afghani Batting
In reply to Sri Lanka's score, Afghanistan did not come slow. While it was expected Hazaratullah would go crazy, it was Rahmanullah Gurbaz who went wild as he smashed 4 sixes off the Sri Lanka bowlers. Hazratullah would also join the show which would lead to Afghanistan chasing a paltry score of 106 in 10.1 overs.

Afghanistan have registered their first win of the Asia Cup 2022. With 2 points and a net run rate of 5.176, they will be facing Bangladesh on Tuesday, August 30th 2022.

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