Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

KC Sangakkara
KC Sangakkara
76(102) 6x4 - 1x6
Control %83%
  • Productive Shot
  • off side drive on front foot
  • 23 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
1 1 6 13 19 8 17 11
AD Mathews
AD Mathews
45(41) 4x4 - 0x6
Control %90%
  • Productive Shot
  • leg glance
  • 25 runs
  • 4x4 - 0x6
4 0 10 2 1 5 13 10

Best performances - Bowlers

BAW Mendis
O7
M2
R11
W3
Eco1.57
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
NLTC Perera
NLTC Perera
O10
M2
R29
W3
Eco2.90
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Scorer: Sanjay Murari | Commentator: Devashish Fuloria

That's all from the comms today. Andrew Fernando is updating the match report as I type and there will be more analysis later. Tomorrow, it's Pakistan v Bangladesh. We will be back with our coverage tomorrow. Till then, ciao ciao

"It was a very important game for us because we had to book our place in the final,"says Angelo Mathews. "They have a very good bowling attack and our batsmen found it hard, it was a slow pitch too. It was a collective effort from Thisara Perera - he scored some useful runs and picked up those crucial three wickets."

"We bowled brilliantly in the first 35 overs and Sangakkara played very well," says Mohammad Nabi. "We started well with the bat, but then Mendis and Malinga bowled brilliantly. It was difficult to pick Malinga."

Kumar Sangakkara is the man of the match. He says, "It was a tough wicket to bat on, so we had to spend some time to build a foundation. You can't take anything for granted, the Afghan team played very well, they exploited the pitch very well. There is nothing guaranteed in cricket, you can be in fine form, but it takes only one ball for you to get out, so you have to enjoy while it goes well."

A stifling bowling performance by Sri Lanka, reiterating their dominant run in the tournament. Their batsmen took them to a very good total on a difficult pitch, their bowlers then ensured there were no heroics from Afghanistan this time. Mendis and Malinga were expected to be the danger men, but it was Perera who reaped most rewards. Mendis and de Silva then ran through the tail in no time.

Terance Rodrigu: "Another disappointing innings by the afghans. They bowl so brilliantly to the opposition that they give this ray of hope of winning, but their batsman end up giving yet another bonus point to the opposition. Kudos to the bowlers."

38.4
W
de Silva to Mirwais Ashraf, OUT, and everytime they have looked for a shot, they have given their wickets away! The batsman tries to drive it over cover, but gets a thick outside edge to short third man. Sri Lanka are through to the final of the Asia Cup again

Mirwais Ashraf c NLTC Perera b de Silva 1 (26m 18b 0x4 0x6) SR: 5.55

38.3
0
de Silva to Mirwais Ashraf, no run, the innings has stalled completely, the batsman defends again

Faisal Sami Qad: "@Steve Austin, Thats actually not the case. A Sri Lanka win would still leave all the 4 teams open in the competition. If Pakistan lose to Bang and India Beat Afghanistan with a bonus point (or vice versa) and then Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka. These results will lead the final spot open for Pakistan and 2 more teams and the situation will be decided by the runrate."

38.2
0
de Silva to Mirwais Ashraf, no run, flatter delivery this time, the batsman pushes it to midwicket
38.1
0
de Silva to Mirwais Ashraf, no run, tossed up delivery outside off, the batsman drives it to point

END OF OVER:
38 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | AFG: 124/9 (130 runs required from 12 overs, RR: 3.26, RRR: 10.83)

  • Mirwais Ashraf1 (14b)
  • Ajantha Mendis7-2-11-3
  • Chaturanga de Silva9-1-29-1

Steve Austin: "So let me get this perfectly clear. The moment Sri Lanka win, Afghanistan and India are eliminated and Sri Lanka are through. This leaves Bangladesh and Pakistan to fight for the last place."

37.6
W
Mendis to Dawlat Zadran, OUT, tossed up delivery outside off, this time the batsman thinks about driving and leaves a gap between the bat and pad, it's a googly again and it hit the middle and leg stump. Another one for Mendis. Sri Lanka are closing doors on Afghanistan quickly

Dawlat Zadran b Mendis 0 (5m 8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

37.5
0
Mendis to Dawlat Zadran, no run, quicker delivery on the stumps, the batsman keeps defending

Stalled

1-2

Scoreline for the last five overs, which has included four maidens

Chipping in

2011

Suranga Lakmal has taken at least one wicket for SL in the last 12 ODIs he's played. The last time he went wicketless was in Aug 2011 v Australia

Need a captain's innings

2

No. of fifties by Mohammad Nabi in chases for Afghanistan

Mendis menace

14.7

Ajantha Mendis' strike-rate in the Asia Cup. He has taken 22 wickets in 7 matches, with two five-fors

Have practice

76

No. of times Sri Lanka have defended a score under 255

The finisher

4

Angelo Mathews has remained unbeaten four times in his last five ODIs

Chasing's no problem

13

Afghanistan have won 13 out of 20 ODIs fielding first

Consistent performer

2

Only two times in the ten ODIs he has played has Dawlat Zadran not contributed with a wicket

Sloppy again

23-2

Sri Lanka could not reverse their issues with the batting powerplay in this Asia Cup.

Batting Powerplay blues

2

In both their previous Asia Cup games, Sri Lanka have lost two wickets in the batting powerplay. Against Pakistan they scored 29 and against India 30

Another golden run

For the second time since 2013, Sangakkara has hit fifty-plus scores in four consecutive ODI innings. Only the second SL batsman after Jayasuriya to do this twice.

Starts and stops

26.78

Dinesh Chandimal's batting average over the past 12 months, with only two fifties