SL vs AFG Asia Cup 2025: Sri Lanka Defeat Afghanistan By Six Wickets, Qualify For Super 4 Along With Bangladesh

Kusal Mendis, smacked Mujeeb for two back-to-back fours in the 18th over to help Sri Lanka secure a comfortable victory over Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi. Mendis led his squad by example as the captain scored his 17th T20I half-century to book the squad’s place in the super fours.

Afghanistan fought hard to keep Sri Lanka away from victory; however, their efforts bore limited results. Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi played some amazing cricket on Thursday as both these players made important contributions with both the bat and the ball for Afghanistan towards the end of the game. Kusal Mendis was named the player of the match for his amazing 72* off 52 balls.

Key Performers

Mohammad Nabi smashed 5 sixes in the last over of the game to help Afghanistan reach a respectable score of 169 towards the end of their inning. Nabi’s fearless batting towards the death overs was nothing short of a blessing for the Afghanistan side, as the batter helped the team go from 114/7 at the end of 17 overs to 169 at 20.

From Sri Lanka’s end, Thushara dealt most of the damage to Afghanistan’s batting line-up with the ball. Thushara was able to control the new ball with much ease as he stirred troubled the Afghanistan batters and picked up 3 important wickets by the end of the power play.

In the Asia Cup’s most tantalizing group-stage twist, Sri Lanka secured a comfortable victory over Afghanistan to book it’s spot in the Super4s. Despite their somewhat poor performances in the T20I matches leading up to the Asia Cup 2025, Sri Lanka has defied all expectations by making an unbeaten run to the Super4s. Many cricketing analysts predict that the players from the south of the Indian Ocean might just be set to face off against team India in an exciting final on September 28.  

Brief scores:

Afghanistan 169/7 in 20 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 24, Mohammad Nabi 60, Rashid Khan 24; Nuwan Thushara 4/18)

Sri Lanka: 171/4 in 18.4 overs (Kusal Mendis 74 not out, Kamindu Mendis 26 not out).