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Head-to-head between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan
The 2022 Asia Cup is scheduled to begin on Saturday, August 27 (today) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the opening match between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. This is the 15th session of the tournament and it is the second time after the 2016 tournament that the T20 format has been used.
6 teams will participate in the tournament divided into two groups. Hong Kong, India and Pakistan are in Group A while Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are in Group B. The top two teams from both groups qualify for the Super 4. The top two teams from the selected Super 4 qualify for the finals. To be held on September 11.
Head-to-head matches between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan
On March 17, 2016, in the T20 series held in Kolkata, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka faced each other only once. Chasing a target of 154 runs, Sri Lanka managed to win the match by 6 wickets. They have met twice in the Asia Cup, Sri Lanka won the first match in 2014 by 129 runs and Afghanistan won the second match in 2018 by 91 runs. In total, the two teams have met five times and Sri Lanka leads 4-1.
The best performances in the tournaments so far
Afghanistan’s long-time player and former captain Asghar Afghan scored 144 runs in four matches with two half-centuries and a top score of 62 at an average of 36 and a strike rate of 100.69. All-rounder Thisara Perera has taken 13 wickets in five matches with an average pace of 5.13 and the best bowling figure of 5 for 55 runs.
Details of the final between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan
The two sides last met on 4 June 2019 in the 2019 ICC World Cup in Cardiff. Batting first, the Sri Lankan team was bowled out for 201 runs in 37 overs. Kusal Perera scored 78 runs in 81 balls. Afghanistan, who played the chase innings, could score only 152 runs in 32.4 overs. Nuwan Pradeep, who performed well with the ball, was awarded the man of the match award by taking 4 wickets for 31 runs in 9 overs with one clean delivery.
ශ්රී ලංකාව හා ඇෆ්ගනිස්තානය අතර මුහුණට මුහුණ තරග වාර්ථා
2022 ආසියානු කුසලානය අගෝස්තු 27 සෙනසුරාදා ( අද දින) එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්යයේ (UAE) ආරම්භ වීමට නියමිත අතර ආරම්භක තරගය ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානය සහ ශ්රී ලංකාව අතර ඩුබායි ජාත්යන්තර ක්රිකට් ක්රීඩාංගණයේදී පැවැත්වේ. මෙය තරඟාවලියේ 15 වන අදියර වන අතර 2016 පැවති තරගාවලියෙන් පසු දෙවන වරටත් T20 තරග ආතිය භාවිතා කරනු ලැබීය.
කණ්ඩායම් 6ක් කාණ්ඩ දෙකකට බෙදා තරගාවලියට සහභාගි වේ. හොංකොං, ඉන්දියාව සහ පකිස්ථානය A කාණ්ඩයෙන් ද ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානය, බංගලාදේශය සහ ශ්රී ලංකාව B කාණ්ඩයේ ද සිටිති. කාණ්ඩ දෙකෙන්ම පළමු කණ්ඩායම් දෙක Super 4 සඳහා සුදුසුකම් ලබයි. තෝරා ගනු ලැබූ Super 4 හි පළමු කණ්ඩායම් දෙක අවසන් තරඟයට සුදුසුකම් ලබයි. සැප්තැම්බර් 11 වැනිදා පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතය.
ශ්රී ලංකාව හා ඇෆ්ගනිස්තානය අතර මුහුණට මුහුණ තරග
2016 මාර්තු 17 වැනිදා කොල්කටාහිදී පැවැති විස්සයි20 තරගාවලියේදී ඇෆ්ගනිස්තානය සහ ශ්රී ලංකාව මුහුණ දුන්නේ එක් වරක් පමණි. ලකුණු 154ක ඉලක්කයක් හඹා ගිය ශ්රී ලංකාව එම තරගය කඩුලු 6කින් ජයග්රහණය කිරීමට සමත් විය. ආසියානු කුසලානයේ දී ඔවුන් මේ වන විට දෙවතාවක් මුහුණ දී ඇති අතර, 2014 වසරේ පැවැති පළමු තරගය ලකුණු 129කින් ශ්රී ලංකාව ජයගත් අතර දෙවැනි තරගය 2018 දී ලකුණු 91 ඇෆ්ගනිස්තානය ජයග්රහණය කළේය. සමස්තයක් වශයෙන් ගත් කල, කණ්ඩායම් දෙක පස් වතාවක් මුහුණ ගැහී ඇති අතර ශ්රී ලංකාව 4-1 කින් ඉදිරියෙන් සිටී.
මෙතෙක් පැවති තරගාවලි වල හොදම දක්ෂතා
ඇෆ්ගනිස්තානයේ දීර්ඝ කාලයක් ක්රීඩකයෙකු සහ හිටපු නායක අස්ගර් ඇෆ්ගන් තරග හතරකදී ලකුණු 144ක් ලබාගත් අතර එම තරග හතරේදී සාමාන්ය 36ක් සහ 100.69ක ප්රහාරක වේගයක් සමඟින් අර්ධ ශතක දෙකක් සහ ඉහළම ලකුණු සංඛ්යාව 62ක් ලබාගෙන ඇත. තුන් ඉරියව් ක්රීඩක තිසර පෙරේරා තරග පහකදී කඩුලු 13ක් දවා ඇති අතර 5.13ක දළ වේගයක් සහ හොඳම පන්දු යැවීම ලකුණු 55කට කඩුලු 5ක් දවා ගනිමින්ය.
ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානය අතර පැවති අවසන් තරග විස්තරය
දෙපාර්ශවය අවසන් වරට මුණගැසුණේ 2019 ජූනි 4 වන දින කාඩිෆ් හි පැවති 2019 ICC ලෝක කුසලාන තරඟාවලියේදීය. පළමුවෙන් පන්දුවට පහරදුන් ශ්රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායම පන්දුවාර 37කදී ලකුණු 201කට දැවී ගියේය. කුසල් පෙරේරා පන්දු 81කදී ලකුණු 78ක් රැස්කළේය. පිළිතුරු ඉනිම ක්රීඩා කළ ඇෆ්ගනිස්තානයට පන්දුවාර 32.4කදී සියලු දෙනා දැවී ලබාගත හැකි වූයේ ලකුණු 152ක් පමණයි. පන්දුවෙන් දස්කම් දැක්වූ නුවන් ප්රදීප් තරගයේ වීරයා සම්මානයෙන් පිදුම් ලැබුවේ එක් නිලකුණු පන්දුවාරයක් සමඟින් ඕවර 9කදී ලකුණු 31කට කඩුලු 4ක් දවා ගනිමින්ය.
இலங்கை மற்றும் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் இடையிலான நேருக்கு நேர் போட்டிகள்
2022 ஆசியக் கோப்பை ஆகஸ்ட் 27, சனிக்கிழமை (இன்று) ஐக்கிய அரபு எமிரேட்ஸில் (யுஏஇ) துபாய் சர்வதேச கிரிக்கெட் ஸ்டேடியத்தில் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் மற்றும் இலங்கை இடையேயான தொடக்க ஆட்டத்துடன் தொடங்க உள்ளது. இது 15வது லெக் போட்டியாகும், மேலும் 2016 போட்டிக்குப் பிறகு டி20 வடிவம் பயன்படுத்தப்படுவது இது இரண்டாவது முறையாகும்.
6 அணிகள் இரண்டு குழுக்களாக பிரிக்கப்பட்டு போட்டியில் பங்கேற்கும். ஏ பிரிவில் ஹாங்காங், இந்தியா, பாகிஸ்தான் அணிகளும், பி பிரிவில் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான், வங்கதேசம், இலங்கை அணிகளும் இடம் பெற்றுள்ளன. இரு பிரிவிலும் முதல் இரண்டு இடங்களை பிடிக்கும் அணிகள் சூப்பர் 4 சுற்றுக்கு தகுதி பெறும். தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட சூப்பர் 4 அணிகளில் முதல் இரண்டு இடங்களைப் பிடிக்கும் அணிகள் இறுதிப் போட்டிக்கு தகுதி பெறும். செப்டம்பர் 11ம் தேதி நடைபெற உள்ளது.
இலங்கை மற்றும் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் இடையிலான நேருக்கு நேர் போட்டிகள்
மார்ச் 17, 2016 அன்று, கொல்கத்தாவில் நடைபெற்ற டி20 தொடரில், ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் மற்றும் இலங்கை அணிகள் ஒருமுறை மட்டுமே நேருக்கு நேர் மோதின. 154 ரன்கள் எடுத்தால் வெற்றி என்ற இலக்குடன் களமிறங்கிய இலங்கை அணி 6 விக்கெட் வித்தியாசத்தில் வெற்றி பெற்றது. ஆசியக் கோப்பையில் இருமுறை சந்தித்துள்ளனர், 2014ல் நடந்த முதல் போட்டியில் இலங்கை 129 ரன்களாலும், 2018ல் நடந்த இரண்டாவது போட்டியில் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் 91 ரன்களாலும் வெற்றி பெற்றது. மொத்தத்தில் இரு அணிகளும் ஐந்து முறை நேருக்கு நேர் சந்தித்துள்ள நிலையில் இலங்கை 4-1 என முன்னிலை பெற்றுள்ளது.
இதுவரை நடந்த போட்டிகளில் சிறப்பான ஆட்டத்தை வெளிப்படுத்தியுள்ளது
ஆப்கானிஸ்தானின் நீண்ட கால வீரரும் முன்னாள் கேப்டனுமான அஸ்கர் ஆப்கான் நான்கு போட்டிகளில் இரண்டு அரை சதங்கள் மற்றும் 62 ரன்களின் சராசரி 36 மற்றும் ஸ்ட்ரைக் ரேட் 100.69 உடன் 144 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார். ஆல்-ரவுண்டர் திசர பெரேரா ஐந்து போட்டிகளில் 5.13 சராசரி வேகத்துடன் 13 விக்கெட்டுகளையும் 55 ரன்களுக்கு 5 விக்கெட்டுகளையும் வீழ்த்தியுள்ளார்.
இலங்கை மற்றும் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் அணிகளுக்கு இடையிலான இறுதிப் போட்டியின் விபரங்கள்
இரு அணிகளும் கடைசியாக ஜூன் 4, 2019 அன்று கார்டிப்பில் நடந்த 2019 ஐசிசி உலகக் கோப்பையில் சந்தித்தன. முதலில் பேட் செய்த இலங்கை அணி 37 ஓவர்களில் 201 ரன்களுக்கு ஆட்டமிழந்தது. குசல் பெரேரா 81 பந்துகளில் 78 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார். பதில் இன்னிங்சை விளையாடிய ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் அணியால் 32.4 ஓவர்களில் 152 ரன்கள் மட்டுமே எடுக்க முடிந்தது. பந்து வீச்சில் சிறப்பாகச் செயற்பட்ட நுவான் பிரதீப் ஒரு கிளீன் பந்து வீச்சில் 9 ஓவர்களில் 31 ஓட்டங்களுக்கு 4 விக்கெட்டுகளை வீழ்த்தி ஆட்ட நாயகன் விருது பெற்றார்.
Cricket
Sri Lanka Stunned by Zimbabwe Despite 178 as Bowling Falters in Colombo
Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign suffered a major setback as they went down to Zimbabwe by six wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium — a result few predicted before the first ball was bowled.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, Sri Lanka posted what appeared to be a competitive 178/7. But defensive bowling and a lack of control in key moments allowed Zimbabwe to chase down 179 with three balls to spare, finishing on 182/4 in 19.3 overs.
Where Sri Lanka Lost the Game
Strong Start, Poor Finish with the Bat
Sri Lanka flew out of the blocks, scoring 61 runs in the Powerplay.
- Pathum Nissanka led the charge with a fluent 62 off 41 balls.
- The opening stand raced to 54 inside five overs.
However, momentum dipped sharply in the middle overs:
- Kusal Mendis struggled (14 off 20).
- The run rate slowed between overs 7–14.
- Despite a late push from Pavan Rathnayake (44 off 25), Sri Lanka managed only 28 runs in the final three overs.
From a position of dominance at 108/2, they could not push beyond the 185–190 mark — a total that, in hindsight, proved costly.
Failure to Strike Early with the Ball
Zimbabwe’s chase was built on a solid foundation:
- 55 runs in the Powerplay without losing a wicket.
- 69-run opening stand removed early pressure.
Sri Lanka never truly regained control.
The Raza–Bennett Counterattack
The turning point came when captain Sikandar Raza launched a brutal counterattack:
- 45 off 26 balls
- 4 sixes
- 50-run partnership in just 27 balls
Brian Bennett anchored the chase superbly with an unbeaten 63 off 48.
Raza’s assault in overs 15–18 shifted the momentum completely, taking the game away from Sri Lanka just when it seemed evenly poised.
Bowling Concerns Under Lights
Sri Lanka’s bowling lacked penetration:
- Maheesh Theekshana conceded 47 in 3.3 overs (13.42 economy).
- No early breakthroughs from the seamers.
- Only one Powerplay wicket across both innings combined.
On a Colombo surface that slowed slightly, Zimbabwe adapted better, rotating strike efficiently before accelerating at the death.
Key Numbers That Hurt Sri Lanka
- Zimbabwe Powerplay: 55/0
- Sri Lanka Powerplay wickets: 0
- Zimbabwe scored 150 in just 16.1 overs
- Sri Lanka conceded 9.33 runs per over in the chase
What This Means
Sri Lanka entered as favourites, especially batting first at home. But tactical lapses, middle-over stagnation, and expensive spells under pressure proved decisive.
Zimbabwe, disciplined with the ball and fearless in the chase, fully deserved their two points.
For Sri Lanka, questions now emerge:
- Is the bowling attack lacking bite?
- Are middle overs becoming a recurring concern?
- Was 178 ever going to be enough on this surface?
With tougher fixtures ahead in the T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka must regroup quickly — because performances like this could derail their campaign early.
Cricket
Sri Lanka Sweats on Pathirana Injury; Hasaranga Comeback on the Cards
Sri Lanka’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign has suffered a major setback, with fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana likely to miss the remainder of the tournament due to injury.
The 23-year-old sustained a calf injury during Sri Lanka’s Group B encounter against Australia on Monday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. The incident occurred in his opening over when, after delivering the fourth ball, Pathirana suddenly pulled up clutching his left calf before collapsing to the ground in visible discomfort.
Team physiotherapists rushed onto the field as concerned teammates gathered around. The pacer was unable to leave the field without assistance, immediately raising concerns about the severity of the injury. Captain Dasun Shanaka completed the over in his absence.
Shortly after, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed that Pathirana would take no further part in the match. In a brief statement, SLC said the bowler had experienced discomfort in his left calf and would undergo medical scans for a full assessment.
Major Blow to Pace Attack
Initial indications suggest the injury could rule Pathirana out for the rest of the World Cup — a significant loss for Sri Lanka’s bowling unit. Known for his slingy action and deadly yorkers, especially at the death, Pathirana has been one of Sri Lanka’s most reliable T20 strike bowlers.
If ruled out, team management is expected to consider Dilshan Madushanka or Nuwan Thushara as potential replacements. While both offer pace and variety, replacing Pathirana’s unique skillset will be a challenge.
Hasaranga Return Under Discussion
In a parallel development, Sri Lanka are reportedly exploring the possibility of bringing Wanindu Hasaranga back into the squad as he continues recovery from a hamstring injury.
Although Hasaranga has not yet regained full match fitness, officials are said to be evaluating whether he could feature later in the tournament — particularly if Sri Lanka qualify for the Super Eight stage.
With their final group match effectively a dead rubber, Sri Lanka have a short window to reassess their injury situation and make strategic decisions. The team management is likely to wait for clearer medical reports before confirming any squad changes.
As the tournament enters a decisive phase, Sri Lanka’s hopes may depend as much on fitness updates as on performances on the field.
Cricket
Colombo Set for High-Voltage India–Pakistan Night Battle
ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup
Colombo is preparing for one of cricket’s biggest nights as India and Pakistan meet in a marquee clash of the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.
Beyond tactics and statistics, this is a contest built on history and pride. With both teams in form and World Cup ambitions on the line, Sunday night promises a high-quality contest under the Colombo lights.
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