Sri Lanka won the last group stage match against Afghanistan as they fixed their position in the top four.
India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh had already fixed their positions in the top four.
The last spot was left, and the match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, which was the deciding match, for the last spot.
Match Details
The last group stage match of the Asia Cup was played on September 5th.
The match was played in Lahore at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bat first.
Sri Lanka Innings
Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne opened the innings for Sri Lanka.
They both started great, as they gave their team a stable start.
They were off to a great start and also hitting boundaries when Gulbadin Naib took the wicket of Dimuth.
Gulbadin didn’t let the other openers stay for long, as in his next over, he took the wicket of Pathum as well.
Sri Lanka got two quick breakthroughs as both their settle openers were sent back to Pavilion.
Kusal Mendis stood strong from one end and started to score runs, whereas wickets were falling from the other end.
He soon even completed his half-century and kept on adding runs to the total.
His marvelous knock of 92 runs took Sri Lanka to a total of 291/8.
Gulbadin Naib took four major wickets in stopping the Sri Lankan batsmen.
Afghanistan Innings
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran opened the innings for Afghanistan.
They both weren’t able to give a great start to their team, as they soon lost their wickets.
Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi handled the situation as their partnership of 71 runs added valuable runs.
Kasun Rajitha didn’t let them settle for long and took away the match as he took the wicket of Rahmat.
Mohammad Nabi’s knock of 65 runs took Afghanistan closer to victory.
Wickets were falling from one end, which was making it difficult for them to win the match.
In the end, Afghanistan lost all their wickets to a score of 289 runs.
Sri Lanka won the match by three runs and qualified for the Super Four stage.
Sri Lanka’s record streak continues! 👊
🇱🇰 Setting a new world record with 12 successive games of dismissing our opponents in ODIs! #LankanLions pic.twitter.com/L6WDel8Yry
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) September 5, 2023