Afghanistan was on fire on Saturday! The team displayed an all-round performance and destroyed the not-so-prepared Sri Lanka by eight wickets and kick-started their Asia Cup campaign with a win.
Opting to bowl, the Afghanistani team first gave a sensational performance with bowl and went on to dismiss Sri Lana in 19.4 overs with only 105 runs to chase.
As a collective bowling unit, Afghanistan demonstrated their prowess by bowling out a side for the first time without Rashid Khan (4-0-12-0) getting a wicket.
Left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi (3/11) destroyed the top-order before spinners Mohammad Nabi (2/14) and Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman knocked down the Lankans in the middle overs.
Whereas, when chasing Afghanistan cantered home in just 10.1 overs to register a big win in their milestone 100th T20 International.
The win also gave a big push to Afghanistan's net run rate (5.176) as they climbed to the top spot in Group B to brighten their Super 4 chances.
Group B also features Bangladesh, who take on Afghanistan at Sharjah on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old Rahmanullah was all class as he played with the Lankan bowling attack after challenging an lbw call after being dismissed for zero. Rahmatullah demonstrated a variety of shots, including drives, pulls, and lofted shots, to successfully lead Afghanistan home. But when he stepped out to leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, only to be fooled by a slower one, his perfect innings came to an end.
But it was too little too late as Afghanistan had all the time in their hands with just 23 needed from 13.5 overs.
The only blip in his sensational innings was when he was trapped in front and looked plumb but on review, the ball tracking showed it was missing the leg stump. Earlier, Farooqi (3/11) did the damage at the top, including wickets off successive deliveries in the opening over. With two consecutive blows from Farooqi in the first over, Sri Lanka got off to a terrible start, falling to 5/3 after just two overs.
However, the end of the match was the highlight. Drinks break with one run to win? Well, of course. Even umpire Anil Chaudhary gives out a wry smile as he calls for drinks with Afghanistan needing one to win.
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