Sri Lanka aim to reach Super Fours as they face Afghanistan at GSL today

Author: Staff Report

LAHORE: Sri Lanka are aiming to reach Super Fours stage when they face Afghanistan in their Asia Cup match at Gaddafi Stadium here on Tuesday (today). Sri Lanka have played one game in the Asia Cup so far, and won it. But if things go awry against Afghanistan today, they very well could be out of the tournament; such is the nature of it. But for that to happen, Afghanistan need to win — and win big. How big will depend on the precise match situation, but hypothetically speaking, if they were to score 275 runs batting first, they would need to win by a margin of at least 68 runs, or chase down any target in 35 overs or less.

Suffice to say this gives Sri Lanka a pretty nifty buffer, especially on a Lahore surface that has been positively greedy for runs. This will also be, you imagine, quite a relief for Sri Lanka’s batters, who have over the past month — primarily during the Lanka Premier Lague (LPL) — been subjected to far less batter-friendly tracks. That said, the toss is likely to play a pretty major role. While the team bowling second might have to contend with dew, it’s an arguably rougher deal for the side bowling first as they would have to do so in the searing Lahore heat.

Match conditions aside, Sri Lanka facing Afghanistan should be a fairly even contest. Of the last five completed ODIs between these two sides, Sri Lanka edge it 3-2. And this is now a Sri Lanka side without pretty much their entire first-choice bowling attack. These sides, however, don’t tend to have too many nail-biters, with four of those five games ending in pretty dominant wins.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz has been a part of every single edition of the LPL, so the Sri Lankans will be quite familiar with his game. Which means they’ll know that if allowed to proceed unchecked, he is a genuine match winner. Gurbaz is 46 runs away from reaching 1000 ODI runs. The nature of Lahore’s pitch means that any result is pretty much a shootout between each side’s respective batsmen, but in Maheesh Theekshana, Sri Lanka possess a secret weapon.

Sri Lanka have played 13 matches in Lahore, and won nine. Their win percentage of 69.23% is the highest of any side to have played at least ten games at the Gaddafi Stadium there.

Squads

AFGHANISTAN: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Fazalhaq Farooqi.

SRI LANKA: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Dushan Hemantha/Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana.