Asia Cup 2018: Afghanistan ends Sri Lanka's campaign with big win

Afghans Rahmat Shah celebrates his 50 v SL at Abu Dhabi. Pic/AFP

Sri Lanka crashed to a massive 91-run defeat to Afghanistan in the Asia Cup here last night after being bowled out for 158 in 41.2 overs. Afghanistan scored 249 in their opening match of the tournament.

The 1996 World Cup champions, who lost their opening game to Bangladesh, are out of the tournament. Sri Lanka were dealt an early blow when opener Kusal Mendis was dismissed lbw for a duck in the very first over of the innings by Mujeeb Ur Rahman.Upul Tharanga and Dhananjaya de Silva then tried to bring Sri Lanka back on track with a 54-run partnership before the latter was run-out for 23 by substitute Samiullah Shenwari.

Tharanga added another 32 runs for the third wicket with Kusal Perera. Wicketkeeper-batsman Perera was bowled by star spinner Rashid Khan for 17 with the score reading 86-3 in the 20th over. Tharanga was dismissed in the very next over by Gulbadin Naib for 36. Shehan Jayasuriya (14), skipper Angelo Mathews (22), Thisara Perera (23), Dasun Shanaka (0) and Akila Dananjaya (2) too failed to add big scores.

Earlier, Rahmat Shah top-scored with a composed 72 before pacer Perera's five-wicket haul helped Sri Lanka bowl out Afghanistan for 249. Perera returned figures of 5-55 as Sri Lanka picked up seven wickets in the last eight overs of Afghanistan innings on a pitch that looked to be on the slower side. Opting to bat after winning the toss, Afghanistan were off to a cautious start with the openers Mohammad Shahzad (34) and Ihsanullah Janat (45) putting on 57 runs in just under 12 overs.

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