Sri Lanka Trash Afghanistan by 124 runs, enter final

3917 days ago

Text

Sri Lanka Trash Afghanistan by 124 runs, enter final

In what promised to be an excited match after the first half, ended in a tamer way as Sri Lanka trashed newbies Afghanistan by 124 runs. Sangakkara was declared the man of the match for his patient 76 in tough batting conditions.
Sri Lanka, who batted first in a slow and low wicket, were pretty slow from the start. The Afganistan bowlers hit the tight areas and kept pressure on the batsmen. Shahpur Zardan and Ashraf removed the openers in quick succession. But Sangakkara stuck in, played patiently. The other senior Mahela Jayawardene and D Chandimal departed soon, but P De Silva stuck with Sangakkara, and built towards a reasonable total. While Sangakkara missed on a well deserved century, But a nice 41 ball 45 from captain Angelo Mathews and Thesra Perera ensured that Sri Lanka posted a reasonable total of 253
Afghanistan got off to a reasonable start, losing just one wicket for 53 runs. But a pile of wickets reduced them to 71 for 5, with none other than Stanikzai making an impact. A small partnership was brewing up between captain Mohammad Nabi and Zardan, but another batting collapse ended their innings with a score of 129