A great close victory by Afghanistan which led them to the Semi Finals of the Asian Games. They defeated Sri Lanka by 8 runs in the quarter final.
A low scoring match in which Afghanistan scored 116/10 in 18.3 overs and in reply Lankans only posted 108/10 in 19.1 overs.
They became the third team after India and Pakistan who reserved their seat in the Semi Finals.
After winning the toss, Lankans decided to bowl first.
Afghanistan started pretty well and also lost wickets at regular intervals. Noor Ali Zadran (51 runs) scored most runs for his team. He stuck to one end of the pitch and took 52 balls to reach there and also hit 6 fours and a six in his innings. Shahidullah Kamal (23 runs) also shows little powerful hits with his game play. He hit 2 fours and 2 sixes in his innings.
Mohammad Shahzad (20 runs) who played the international for a long time was unable to capitalize it well. Remaining batters in the team were unable to provide runs and they went just one after the other. Therefore in the end they somehow managed 116 runs in 18.3 overs and lost all their wickets.
Great performance shown by the Lankan bowlers. Nuwan Thushara was the leading wicket taker from the side as he took 4 wickets in his pockets by giving away only 17 runs in his three overs spell. Sahan Arachchige the skipper got 2 wickets. Lahiru Samarakoon and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth took 1 wicket each.
As the target was below 6 runs per over, Sri Lanka tried to bat slowly. But unfortunately the wickets fell at regular intervals which ultimately cost them the match. In the middle overs run rate was under control but suddenly the wickets started to fall and eventually the result got out of their hands.
Sahan Arachchige (22 runs) was the highest scorer from the side in this match. One of the hardest things for them was the inability to build any big partnership. Vijayakanth Viyaskanth (13 runs) tries to get the targeted score but he doesn’t get any support from the other end. The team only managed 108 runs in 19.1 overs and lost all their wickets.
Bowlers did a fantastic job by restricting the Lankan batters and saving the match for their team. Among them, Qais Ahmed and skipper Gulbadin Naib grabbed 3 wickets each. Karim Janat, Zahir Khan and Sharafuddin Ashraf got 1 wicket each.