‘Jeet jeet liya Afghaniyon ne bhai’ – Fans praise Afghanistan despite them narrowly missing out Super Four qualification in Asia Cup 2023

In the last game of the Group stages of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka locked horns. While the defending champions, Lanka needed to win, Afghanistan needed to win by a big margin. After all, they lost to Bangladesh by a big margin. Meanwhile, the six-time winners, Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first in Lahore.

With this, the Aghans had different equations depending on how much they had to chase down. Meanwhile, the Lankan Lions had a good start as Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka put together 63 runs for the first wicket. Both batters failed to capitalize after their good starts. The same thing happened with the team as they went from 63/0 to 86/3.

At this stage, the likes of Kusal Mendis and Charitha Asalanka put together 102 runs for the fourth wicket. The former missed out on his century by eight runs as he was run out by Rashid Khan. On the other hand, Asalanka was caught and bowled by the same bowler. After Asalanka and Mendis, the likes of Dunith Wellalage and Maheesh Theekshana helped the title holders amass 291/8 at the end of the innings. Former skipper Gulbadin Naib took four wickets.

Afghanistan needed to chase down 292 in just 37.1 overs

As the Afghans lost to Bangladesh badly, they needed to chase down the target in just 37.1 overs. However, they had a poor start as their openers, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran got out for single-digit scores.

However, thanks to former skipper Mohammad Nabi (65), Rahmat Shah (45), Karim Janat (22), Najibullah Zadran (23), and Rashid Khan kept the team in the unthinkable chase. In the 37th over, Khan hit three boundaries to bring down the equation to three runs off one ball. On the first ball of the 38th over, Mujeeb Ur Rahman needed to score three runs to take the team over the line. Dhananjaya de Silva bowled this over and took the wicket of Zadran.

However, after the first ball of the over, the Afghans were still in the game as they needed six more runs to qualify for the next round. All eyes were on Khan to do so with one wicket in hand. However, the Blue Brigade didn’t know the equation which is why Fazalulhaq Farooqi blocked two deliveries, much to the shock of the fans. In the end, Afghanistan heartbreakingly lost the game by two runs

This is how Twitter reacted

https://twitter.com/SaaDSFSO/status/1699104232362983520?s=20

https://twitter.com/Tradergautam/status/1699104739722432940?s=20

https://twitter.com/Agrumpycomedian/status/1699104764255166752?s=20

https://twitter.com/rohitmehta0/status/1699104499896574137?s=20