Riding high after their historic victory over Bangladesh on Saturday, Afghanistan are not intimidated by the strength of their opposition heading into their Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today. The Afghans – whose victory sparked celebratory gunfire in the streets of Kabul and prompted congratulatory calls from the president and finance minister back home – will now look to make an impression against some of the competition’s heavyweights, having already achieved what many had considered to be their most realistic pre-tournament goal when they beat the spiralling hosts.
Now the tournament’s only non-Full Member side face Sri Lanka, who have been on a roll since arriving in Bangladesh earlier this year, winning the Test series before going on to sweep two Twenty20s and five one-day internationals, including their first two Asia Cup matches against Pakistan and India.
The Sri Lankans are favoured to handle Afghanistan easily and book a place in the final with their game against Bangladesh still remaining, but the upstart Associates coming off their first one-day victory against a Test side in just their fourth attempt are hoping to make life difficult for the Lankan Lions.
‘We won a great match against a spectacular team, so it was great for us,’ 22-year-old Afghan bowler Hamza Hotak said at Mirpur on Sunday.
‘We should be [confident]. It was a tough match; it gives energy, so therefore we should play a great game against the other teams.’
Though Hotak would not go as far as to predict a victory – when asked if his side would give Sri Lanka a tough time, he only said ‘Inshallah’ – the left-arm spinner made it clear the Afghans were not put off by the names and reputations of their more celebrated opponents.
‘We are just seeing the bat and the ball, and also the wicket; we have no need of big names.’
Sri Lanka, however, have backed up their reputation and established themselves as tournament favourites with victories over the other two big teams in the competition and a prolonged spell of excellence in Bangladeshi conditions, highlighted by the class of star wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara, whose 18th ODI ton on Friday steered his side past India.
Sangakkara has followed a pair of centuries – including a triple-hundred – in the second Test against
Bangladesh with two hundreds and a fifty in
his last three one-day internationals, and if he continues his good form today he could put Sri Lanka in the final.
-With New Age input
