Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bowl against high-flying Afghanistan at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday. The Sri Lanka team has a tough task ahead of them to outclass Afghanistan who have played dominant cricket so far in this tournament. Mohammad Nabi’s team is the only side in the tournament who have maintained an unbeaten streak in Asia Cup 2022 so far.
The Afghan skipper failed to guess the flip of the coin right as Shanaka chose to bowl as he felt that his team is good at chasing the target which they did against Bangladesh in the group stage clash.
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“We are going to bowl first, we are good at chasing. So it’s a good toss to win. The openers got us a good start, and we had partnerships in the middle. That was important. That helped us control the game. Playing with the same team,” Shanaka said at the toss.
🚨 Toss Alert 🚨
We have lost the toss and have been put into bat first by Sri Lanka in our first match in the Super Four Stage of the Asia Cup 2022. #AfghanAtalan | #AsiaCup2022 | #AFGvSL pic.twitter.com/UmM6NuMr8E
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) September 3, 2022
While Afghanistan’s skipper was happy to bat first and he wants to put Sri Lanka under pressure by posting a solid total on the scoreboard. They made one change to their playing XI as Samiullah Shinwari got a chance after Azmatullah got sick.
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“We would like to bat first, we want to put a good score on the board. Really happy with the way our bowlers have performed. Hopefully, they bowl well today as well. We had a good game here against Bangladesh. We want to do well again. We have one change – Samiullah Shinwari comes in, Azmatullah is out as he is sick,” he added.
Earlier, when the two teams first faced each other in group stage, Afghanistan decimated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets after a sensational three-wicket haul by Fazalhaq Farooqi which bundled out Shanaka’s men on just 105. Afghanistan chased down the target in just 10.1 overs
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(w), Charith Asalanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Samiullah Shinwari, Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi
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