Afghanistan after electing to bat first, both Gurbaz and Ghani batted sensibly hitting fours and sixes then and there and took Afghanistan to a score of 42 runs at the end of the six overs of Powerplay. As soon as Powerplay got over, the next ball Gurbaz who was looking good got out to Kumara after scoring 28 runs off 24 deliveries.
Ghani and Ibrahim started to push for runs but in the 10th, the opener Ghani who scored run a ball 27 was dismissed by Hasaranga. Then, Najibullah joined Ibrahim and both started to push the scoreboard. But, Ibrahim after hitting 15 runs in the Theekshana over which included six and a four got out the next over after contributing 22 runs.
After that, back to back three wickets fell in short succession for Afghanistan as Naib scored 12 runs and their skipper Nabi too managed to score 13 runs after getting out to Rajitha. Afghanistan in the end only managed to score a total of 144 for 8 their quota of 20 overs.
Kumara took two wickets and Hasaranga took three wickets, in that two wickets fell in his last over as he finished his excellent spell only giving 13 runs and also taking three wickets in his four overs. Sri Lankan batters started the chase with 2 boundaries but Nissanka was dismissed by Mujeeb after scoring 10 runs.
Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva started to build an partnership and made 36 runs for the third wicket but, Mendis got out after scoring 25 runs off 27 deliveries to Rashid. Dhananjaya de Silva took on Rashid Khan for 14 runs after 10 overs were finished. Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva made a 54 runs partnership and steadied Sri Lankan chase.
Further Asalanka got out to Rashid when 44 runs were required in 39 balls. But Dhananjaya de Silva fantastic knock of 66 runs off 42 balls not out which included 6 fours and 2 sixes and Rajapaksa’s contribution of 18 runs also ensured that Sri Lanka won comfortably by 6 wickets with 9 balls to spare. With this win, Sri Lanka moves to 3rd in the points table with 4 points in Group 1.
Brief Scorecard : Afghanistan 144/8 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 28, Usman Ghani 27, Wanindu Hasaranga 3-13, Lahiru Kumara 2-30) lost to Sri Lanka 148/4 in 18.3 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 66*, Kusal Medis 25, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-24, Rashid Khan 2-31) by 5 wickets.
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