Mohammad Nabi’s fantastic innings of 65 went in vain as Sri Lanka booked their Super 4 berth by defeating Afghanistan by 2 runs in a thriller at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Tuesday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, openers Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne got Sri Lanka off to a solid start. The duo added 63 runs before Gulbadin Naib pegged the Lankans back by striking thrice to reduce them to 86/3.
The pair of Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka added 102 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was caught and bowled by Rashid Khan for 36.
Dhananjaya de Silva (14) was then cleaned up by Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Mendis (92) was unlucky to miss out on a well deserved century when he was run out after Rashid dropped Shanaka off his own bowling but the ball rolled back onto the stumps at the non strikers end.
Skipper Dasun Shanaka was then bowled around the leg by Rashid for 5, leaving their side in big trouble at 227/7.
However the pair of Dunith Wellalage and Maheesh Theekshana bailed his side out of trouble with a 64 run stand for the eight wicket to take them 291/8 in their 50 overs.
In response, Kasun Rajitha got Sri Lanka off to a fine start by dismissing both Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran for 4 & 7 respectively.
Gulbadin who was promoted at No 3 scored a quickfire 16 ball -22 before being trapped leg before wicket by Matheesha Pathirana.
Rahmat Shah along with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi added 71 runs for the fourth wicket stand before the former was dismissed by Rajitha for 45.
Mohammed Nabi raised Afghanistan hopes by scoring a magnificent 32 ball-65, before falling to a brilliant catch at the boundary by Dhananjaya de Silva off Maheesh Theekshana.
Dunith Wellalage pegged Afghanistan back with wickets of Karim Janat and Hashmatullah Shahidi to reduce Afghanistan to 237/7.
Najibullah Zadran (23) and Rashid Khan (27*) kept the hopes alive with some blistering strokes, but it wasn’t enough as they eventually fell short by 2 runs.
Sri Lanka 291 for 8 (Mendis 92, Naib 4-60) beat Afghanistan 289 (Nabi 65, Shahidi 59*, Rajitha 4-79) by two runs.