BRISBANE: Afghanistan could not find the final flourish and ended up with an underwhelming 144 for eight against Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup here on Tuesday.
While the Afghans were able to stitch a few partnerships at the top, Sri Lanka did well to strike at regular intervals.
Leg spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (3/13) picked up three wickets while pacer Lahiru Kumara (2/30) accounted for two batters.
The ball swung in the opening two overs but after that the Sri Lankan bowlers struggled to get their lengths right as Rahmanullah Gurbaz (28) donned the role of the aggressor.
The wicketkeeper batter danced down and hit a glorious straight drive off Kasun Rajitha to register the first maximum of the innings.
The Afghans then hit three more fours and a six to collect 42 off the first six overs.
However right after the powerplay, Kumara fashioned the first breakthrough for the Sri Lankans.
Gurbaz looked to go big but there was just enough movement as the ball traversed the gap between the bat and pad to crash into the stumps.
The spinners were then able to slow down the proceedings after the wicket but Usman Ghani (27) whacked Kumara for a six to long off.
Looking to up the ante, Ghani once again tried to go for it in the 11th over off Hasaranga, who was brought back into the attack.
However, the Afghan was done by a googly that had a touch of bounce on it and skipper Dasun Shanaka pouched it at deep mid-wicket.
Ibrahim Zadran (22) became Kumara's second victim in the 13th over.
With wickets in hand, Mohammad Nabi (13) dispatched a slower one to extra-cover. But the skipper wasn't able to stay in the middle for long as Afghanistan failed to fire in the death overs, losing five wickets for 40 runs off the last 30 balls.
Sri Lanka were once against guilty of being sloppy on the field.
