Asia Cup 2022: Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan in Super 4 Sharjah clash

Gulf News

Superb slog over bowling followed by fearless batting lifted Sri Lanka to a four-wicket victory over Afghanistan in the first Super 4 game of the DP World Asia Cup at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday. The Gulf News team discuss the match…  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/sport/cricket/as-it-happened-sri-lanka-beat-afghanistan-in-asia-cup-super-4-clash-in-sharjah-1.1662208372766  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #cricketnews #asiacup2022

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to Golf News Straight Back. Now, as you can see, we are missing a familiar

00:14face from the show. Mr Cricket UAE and his Sergeant is travelling. We wish him a safe

00:18journey. So tonight I'm joined by Shyam and Satish. Guys, how are you doing?

00:23Good, Imran. Thank you. How are you?

00:26Good, good, Satish. Thank you. Okay, Afghanistan were aiming for another win tonight over Sri

00:32Lanka in the Asia Cup, this time in the Super 4 clash which took place in Sharjah, but they

00:38failed. Sri Lanka won by four wickets. Shyam, you were there at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium

00:43watching the action. What are your thoughts on the game tonight?

00:47Afghanistan was in the game till the 17th over. The last three overs, they failed miserably,

00:55I would say. Because they managed somewhere around 20 runs. And especially the 19th over,

01:02they got only three runs. So which means they fell 20 to 30 runs short. And I think that

01:08mattered in the end. But going by what Sri Lanka says, even the 30 runs, I doubted that

01:16it mattered. Because it was full of fury. They were just… Their momentum was amazing

01:23because they took off the blocks, especially with Kushal Mendes firing away and even

01:29Patil Nishankar picking up after that. So that momentum was mind-boggling. And the rest

01:36of the batsmen also kept up with it, right up to even Vanid Doha Seranga. So right up

01:41to him. And of course, not to miss out on that 14-ball cameo by Rajapaksa. So all in

01:51all, it was a concerted batting effort. And Sri Lanka has come a long way from their earlier

01:56two losses.

01:58Satish, it looked like Dasan, Shanaka's team, they clicked quite well tonight, didn't they?

02:04Yeah, Emraan. I think they are peaking at the right time. I think initially,

02:09the couple of matches they played, they were not up to the mark. And to be honest,

02:13the Bangladesh close win must have given them a lot of confidence to come into this game.

02:19And the good part is, I've been noticing that the team's batting second is getting a slight

02:26advantage. The wickets are easing out slightly. So I think that is where the Afghanistan attack

02:32was slightly blunted. But all in all, nothing to take credit away from Sri Lanka. They played

02:37a brilliant game and they were spot on and they played to a plan.

02:44Satish, is that particular at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, the team's chasing?

02:49No, no, across all venues, Emraan. If you look at, more so in Sharjah, because obviously the

02:56wickets are a little slow in nature. But the fact remains that across the team so far that has

03:04batted second, excepting the two games Hong Kong played, all other teams have won the batting

03:09second. So it looks like the chase is becoming easier, but we'll have to wait and see. It's too

03:15early to predict that.

03:17Too early to predict, that's true. Shyam, Sri Lanka, they won the toss and they opted to bowl

03:22first. And it looked like it would have been, well, it looked like it might have been the wrong

03:25decision as the Afghans, they piled on the runs. How good was it to watch, you know, live tonight

03:31Gurbaz's 84 from 45 balls?

03:34Oh, brilliant, brilliant. Gurbaz was brilliant. He was just fearless. He was not stopping at

03:41anything. Any bowler, the bowler didn't matter. He was not trying to nudge for runs. He was just

03:48unleashing stroke after stroke and just blazing away. It was an amazing sight. But he was

03:55trifle lucky because in Thikshna's second over, he was caught at long on, but the fielder

04:02trampled on the fence by a minute margin. But that let off, he used it to his advantage. And

04:10Afghanistan was able to reach such a good total, which they squandered in the end.

04:16Shyam, he hit sixes tonight. Did any of them come your way in the press box?

04:21Did you try to catch anything?

04:22No, no, no. Fortunately, nothing came our way, but some of them were massive, massive hits.

04:29But Shyam, it was a good response from Sri Lanka. They were chasing a big target. 176 was the

04:35target to chase. And after six overs, they had scored, I think, 50 for no loss. Was there a

04:41feeling inside the stadium that they were going to go on to win this match?

04:44Yes. Yes. Because normally, to a large extent, the power play gives you a fair good idea of

04:52how the match is headed. So 50 for no loss. I mean, we knew that Sri Lanka was in the game.

04:59If they don't lose too many wickets, like if you don't lose too many wickets quickly,

05:04if they are fine. They did lose wickets, but they were spaced out. So, each batsman was coming in,

05:11they were contributing. Even if it is for 15 or 18 runs, they were stringing together a decent

05:15partnership. So, even somebody like Vanitha Hasaranga scored only 17 or something. But he

05:21was involved in a good partnership with Banu Rathapaksa. So, again, Rathapaksa strung in

05:28a quick-fire partnership with Guna Tilake. So, all these contributed in good measure.

05:38Except, I think, the only guy who missed out was Darshan Shanaka. Because he was caught

05:43brilliantly at the fence. Because all of those juggling catches just thrown up in the air,

05:47and the fielder went into the boundary line and came back and caught it. So, he was distinctly

05:51unlucky. Or rather, the brilliance of the fielder just took him away. Otherwise, he was very much

05:56in the game. He was playing very positively at the point of time. Satish, the Afghanis,

06:02they've impressed. We know they've got a good pace, they've got good spin, they've got good

06:06batting as well. But they were unlucky tonight. They fell a bit short. What went wrong for them

06:10tonight? Emran, sorry, I missed you somewhere. Can you repeat the question, please?

06:15Yeah, Satish, the Afghans, they've been really good so far in the tournament. We know all about

06:19their batting and bowling, their spin bowling particularly. But what went wrong for them

06:23tonight? As I mentioned, the last, as Radhesham mentioned, the last three overs, that extra 10

06:32runs, probably 179 was a par score in this wicket. 178 was a par score in this wicket. They should

06:40have got another 10 runs, maybe 10-15 runs. Would have taken the team at a given winning score. So,

06:48that's where they lost it. So, that's the thing which I would say Afghanistan missed.

06:54But again, in Afghanistan's case, I would say, they don't have a very deep batting. Their batting

06:59was not tested in the two matches they played. They won by, I think, first match, they won by

07:05about eight wickets and the second match by, say, five or four, six, seven wickets. So, the lower

07:10order was not tested. And this is the first time the lower order was tested when they lost two

07:15quick wickets towards the end. So, that put a little pressure on them. And they were in a bit

07:20of unknown territory at that point of time. So, what does it mean for Afghanistan's chances now?

07:27They can still make it to the final, but they'll have to really play really well from now on end.

07:32They have to beat two biggies, Pakistan and India. Only then they stand any chance now.

07:39Shah, do you think they can beat those biggies?

07:42I think they have the talent to do it. But the thing is, when it comes to India or Pakistan,

07:51they have been playing cricket for a long time and all formats for that matter,

07:54which means they have abundant experience in playing. And they have played all kinds of

07:58situations. And Afghanistan don't play as much cricket as India or Pakistan for that matter. So,

08:04they don't go through the crunch situations or pressure situations like these teams do.

08:11So, if you look at even the past World Cups or any of the previous tournaments,

08:16you can always see that Afghanistan go toe-to-toe with all these big teams,

08:20still towards the end, they falter away. They don't have that extra thing in them to push

08:29them to the win. So, that is what will be lacking against India and Pakistan.

08:34They will give them a good fight, but I don't think they will win. But again,

08:38cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. But I'll still push my luck and say,

08:42I don't see Afghanistan winning against India and Pakistan.

08:46Okay, let's turn our attentions to the big game tomorrow. India and Pakistan,

08:50we've mentioned them already. They're playing each other obviously in the Super 4. India won

08:54that first match and that last ever was a thriller. But now the stakes are much higher.

08:58Shyam, how do you see tomorrow's match panning out?

09:02It's too close to call because even the last match, going by the last match,

09:05I mean, it was so close. It went right into the last over. I think we might see again another

09:11close encounter. So, I'm looking forward to that. Satish, it looks like Kohli is regaining a bit of

09:18form. He got 59 against Hong Kong. But Rahul and Shyama, they're still struggling. How important

09:24is it for them to get some runs tomorrow? India is actually not just Rahul. When you look at

09:33India tomorrow, Jadeja is missing. So, he was the guy who got 50 runs in the previous game.

09:39So, it's a little bit of a failure. But again, coming to the question of the openers,

09:44these are all experienced players, Imran. It's just a matter of one game or on that day,

09:49they can come back and play a good knock. So, I wouldn't look at the past performances. Yes,

09:55Rahul is struggling big time. He's not able to time the ball well. But you never know. These

10:02are the players sometimes when they just go there and start performing. They have done that in the

10:07past. So, all in all, it's going to be a good contest for Kohli, Rahul and Rohit Sharma. But

10:16I'm sure they're going to come out well and they're going to do well on the wicket tomorrow.

10:23Okay. We'll see who comes out on top tomorrow night. Join us then for another edition of

10:27Gulf News Straight Back. In the meantime, head to gulfnews.com for the latest news and reviews

10:31and much more. Thanks to Sharma and to Satish and good night.

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