Sri Lanka cruise past Afganistan and dare to dream – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE (eLanka sports editor)
Wanindu Hasarsnga De Silva and Dhananjaya De Silva gave Sri Lanka a Silver lining, and the daring hope of delivering Skipper Dasun Shanaka’s bold prediction that the Asia Cup champions can make the T20 World Cup semi finals.
Not mission impossible, but still a realistic possibility, Shanaka’s dream has to align with beating one of the favourites England, in their final commitment which is a tough ask . But not impossible in this unpredictable format.
Sri Lanka recovered from a New Zealand hiding to strangle Afghanistan’s batting before chasing down an under par 145 to cruise to a six wicket win with 9 balls to spare.
Afganistan gave the Sri Lankans a worrying period when their batsmen appeared to be in control and heading to build a unbeatable run chase. But Sri Lanka clawed their way back into the game thanks to Hasarsnga, Theeksheena and Kumara whose accuracy and unplayable bowling had them in all sorts. Sri Lanka’s fielding once again was below acceptable standards dropping easy catches and was generally untidy.
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If there was a reason for empathy about Afganistan and their demise from the tournament, it certainly was their inability to gain enough match practice, being victims of abandoned games due to inclement weather conditions in Australia that may have ruined any chance of success.
Although the game appeared to be one-sided, it certainly didn’t give due credit to the Afgans who seemed to be up to it till their batting was subdued by clever Sri Lanka bowling and astute field placement.
Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka continues to cop plenty of flak about his captaincy which is totally unwarranted when his troops around him are failing to deliver.
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Indisciplined batting has been their biggest bugbear and their fielding has been pretty ordinary. They need to pay plenty attention to these vital aspects before confronting England who will take them apart if they don’t address this worrying trend.
Afganistan threatened, then disintegrated against an equally desperate Sr Lanka in a must win game that would send the loser back home before the knock out stage of the T20 World Cup.
Batting first seemed to be the best option on a bright Brisbane day as the Gabba showed two paced, but ideal conditions for batting.
Sri Lanka’s opening bowlers took some stick as the Afgan batting flourished on a wicket without venom and predictable bounce.
But they recovered sufficiently from average fielding, thanks to decisive spells from Wanindu Hasarsnga De Silva and Maheesh Theeksheena to reel them back to a chaseable total. Paceman Lahiru Kumara though erratic at times, used his superior pace to prise out two Afganistan batsmen contributing to the containment of a batting line-up that could be dangerous on their day.
Sri Lanka’s chase was wobbly compared to Afganistan, losing anchorman Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis early as Afganistan underlined why they qualified ahead of their more established neighbour.
But Dhananjaya De Silva steadied the ship and with Bhanuka Rajapakse for a while, steered them to safety and an outside chance to make Semi-finals a realistic chance.
England, the net run chase and Sri Lanka’s belief, stands between glory and a disappointing flight back home to reflect on what might have been.
