Afghanistan’s national cricket team defeated Sri Lanka in the opening match of the Asia Cup T20 cricket tournament in the UAE on Saturday.
Afghan bowlers led by Fazal Haq Farooqi in the first inning set up an excellent foundation for the batters as they chased down the total of 105 runs by 8 wickets with 59 balls to spare.
All-rounder Mohammad Nabi won the toss and chose to bowl early on in the evening, a decision that proved right for his team.
Naveen followed Fazal with another wicket in the 2nd over for Afghanistan to challenge Sri Lanka at 5/3 in 2 overs.
Afghanistan bowlers took wickets regularly to reduce Sri Lanka to 105/10 in their first inning.
Fazal Haq Farooqi picked 3 wickets for 11 runs in his 3.3 overs.
Mujeeb Rahman (2/24) and the Skipper Mohammad Nabi (2/14) shared 4 wickets between them whereas Naveen-ul-Haq (1/23) took 1 wicket to his name.
Rashid Khan went wicket less but bowled really well as he conceded only 12 runs in his four overs.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Hazratullah Zazai started an excellent batting at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium by scoring 83 runs in the first 6 overs.
Gurbaz won the best catch of the match award while Farooqi was awarded the Player of the Match award for his match-winning bowling.
Afghanistan will face Bangladesh in their second match of the event on Tuesday, 30th August 2022.
