Sri Lanka has given their T20 World Cup campaign new life with a decisive six-wicket victory against Afghanistan at the Gabba.
On Tuesday, Dhananjaya de Silva (66 not out off 42 balls), played an important role in his team’s survival in the competition. He sealed the victory by leading his team home with nine balls remaining.
After deciding to bat first in favourable conditions for scoring runs, Afghanistan was limited to a disappointing 8-144 by spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, who took 3-13, two of which came in the penultimate over.
Sri Lanka with their victory now has four points in Group 1. To advance, they must defeat England (3 points) in their last Super 12 game and hope that either New Zealand (5) or Australia (5) lose their final matches.
The Sri Lankan batters didn’t appear to be under much duress while attempting to reach 145, but Dhananjaya managed the run-scoring when the Afghans had them at 2-63 halfway through.
Afghanistan’s prospects of making the semifinals were dashed by the amazing hitting by Dhananjaya.
Star leg-spinner Rashid Khan injured his hamstrings at the end of the match, which could be bad news for the Afghanistan team.
