After defeating Bangladesh by a five-wicket margin, Sri Lanka now locks horns with Afghanistan in Match 6 of the ongoing 16th edition of the Asia Cup. The Group B clash is all set to take place on Tuesday, September 5, 2023, at Gaddafi Stadium, in Lahore. Notably, it will be the last match of the league phase before the ‘Super Fours’ round which will begin on the following day at the same venue.
Dasun Shanaka and his men comfortably beat the Bangla Tigers in their opening fixture of the campaign. Seamer Matheesha Pathirana picked up a four-wicket haul while Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka struck their respective half-centuries to claim a victory for their side. For figures of 4/32 in 7.4 overs, Pathirana bagged the Player of the Match award.
The Afghans lost their opener against the same Bangla side courtesy of terrific centuries from Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto. The former, who opened the innings, smashed 112 off 119, while Shanto continued his solid form to rack up 104 off 105. The Tigers won the encounter comprehensively by a margin of 89 runs. With that, they qualified for the next round while Afghanistan now faces Sri Lanka in this do-or-die game.
Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers ahead of Match No.6 between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in Group B in the Asia Cup 2023:
Head-to-Head: Both sides have met ten times in one-day internationals with Sri Lanka dominating the fixture with six victories. Three matches have been won by the Afghans while one ended in no result.
50 – Kusal Mendis (2950) needs 50 runs to complete the milestone of 3000 runs in ODIs.
5 – Mendis (295) needs five fours to reach 300 fours in ODI cricket.
1 – Mohammad Nabi (249) is one scalp away from reaching 250 wickets in international cricket.
96 – Ibrahim Zadran (904) is 96 runs short of reaching the landmark of 1000 runs in the 50-overs format.
46 – Rahmanullah Gurbaz (954) needs 46 runs to complete 1000 runs in ODI cricket.
1 – Mujeeb Ur Rahman (149) requires just one wicket to get to 150 wickets across formats.
120 – Dimuth Karunaratne (7880) requires 120 runs to reach 8000 runs in international cricket.
4 – Charith Asalanka (96) requires four fours to get to 100 fours in one-day internationals.
3 – Gurbaz (97) is three big hits away from reaching 100 maximums across formats.
6 – Dasun Shanaka (94) is six fours away from completing 100 fours in ODIs.
54 – Nabi (4946) requires 54 runs to get to 5000 runs across formats.