SL vs AFG: Unaware of match equation Afghanistan miss chance to qualify for Super Fours, lose by 2 runs

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Afghanistan suffered a heartbreaking two-run defeat against Sri Lanka in their final Group B match and got knocked out of the Asia Cup 2023 on Tuesday. In very eventful final moments of the match, Afghanistan support staff could not properly communicate the equations to qualify for the Super Fours to their batters in the middle.

After Sri Lanka scored 291/8 in 50 overs, Afghanistan had to chase down the target in 37.1 overs to qualify for the Super Fours. Afghanistan were standing at 289/8 at the end of 37 overs and once Mujeeb Ur Rahman got out on the first ball of the 37th over, they thought they had missed the opportunity to move to the next round.

However, there was still a way Afghanistan could qualify! They needed to hit a six on the next three deliveries to finish at 295. Under that situation, Afghanistan would have won the match and matched Sri Lanka's Net Run Rate (NRR). A coin toss would have then decided the team proceeding into the Super Fours.

However, an unaware Fazalhaq Farooqi did not show any intent on a full toss delivery which he faced from Dhananjaya de Silva. He defended the second delivery to cover and then got out on the third as Afghanistan were bundled out for 289 in 37.4 overs.

Rashid Khan, who smashed three boundaries in the previous over from Dunith Wellalage to bring Afghanistan on the brink of their biggest ever win, was left stranded on the non-striker's end at 27 off 16. In a third situation, even a double from Mujeeb on the first ball of the 38th over could have kept them in the hunt.

In that case, Afghanistan could have taken up to 38.1 overs and hit a six to take their total to 297 and win the game.

But Afghanistan players in the middle and in the dressing room, were completely unaware of the equations and once Mujeeb got each one of them had a devastated look on their face. Rashid Khan appeared to be on the cusp of breaking down in the middle.

To add salt to their wound, Dhananjaya trapped Farooqi in front of the stumps to deny Afghanistan a deserving win as well. With the win, Sri Lanka joined Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in the Super Fours.

Earlier, Rahmat Shah and captain Hashmatullah scored 45 off 49 and 59 off 66 respectively before Mohammad Nabi fired 65 off just 32 balls to turn the match on its head. Karim Janat (22 off 13) and Najibullah Zadran (23 off 15) also played as per the match situation.

Kusal Mendis top-scored for Sri Lanka with an 84-ball 92. Gulbadin Naib picked four wickets for 60 runs in 10 overs for Afghanistan.