Afghanistan made history as they defeated the likes of subcontinent heavyweights Sri Lanka by a huge 7 wickets to win the Emerging Asia Cup 2024. Rasooli led the young Afghan side to a phenomenal campaign, which included an iconic victory over India in the semis.
After facing a setback early on against Hong Kong during their group-stage matches, the cricket Afghanistan dominated with a fierce cricketing option at Oman. The Afghans bowled the best they could, as they restricted Sri Lanka to a small score of 133 in their first batting innings.
The top-order batters collapsed as they all were sent back for single-digit scores, while at one stage they were reduced to 15/4. Rathnayake and Sahan Arachchige, the lower-order all-rounders, then led the Lankan team to a respectable total.
Arachchige scored an unbeaten 64 off just 47 balls, while his batting partner Rathnayake supported him with a fair 20 runs off just 21 balls. Later, Nimesh Vimukthi, towards the end of the innings, came in to smash a quick 23.
Afghanistan’s best pick among bowlers included Allah Ghazanfar, who picked up two wickets for just 14 runs in his spell of four overs. Alongside him, pacer Bilal Sami was the only bowler to share the new ball with the former, as he went on to scalp three wickets, including the likes of opening batters.
Sri Lanka dismissed the opener from one end while the other opener, Sediqullah Atal, continued his stunning form as he dominated for Afghanistan with a dominating unbeaten 55. Other batting contributors included Rasooli, who scored a decent 24, and later Karim Janat, the experienced head, who played a crucial inning of 33 runs.
Mohammad Ishaq came into bat at No. 5 in the middle order, as he played a quick cameo of 16 runs, which got the job done for the Asian underdogs, as they won the ACC Emerging Asia Cup by 7 wickets with just 11 balls remaining.
Senior Afghan players have lauded their team for their commendable landmark performance in the history of the game.
