SL thrash Afghanistan by 129 runs

Sri Lanka dished out a 129-run thrashing on Afghanistan in the seventh match of the Asia Cup ’14 at Mirpur in Dhaka.

Afghans were all-out for 124, thanks to a combined bowling effort from Ajantha Mendis and Thisara Perera, who each claimed three wickets for 11 and 29 runs respectively.

Afghan skipper Mohammad Nabi top scored with 37, but lacked support from the other batsmen.

Earlier, late hitting from Thisara Perera and skipper Angelo took Sri Lanka to 253.

Tight line and length from Afghan bowlers meant Sri Lankan batsmen had little opportunity to score freely for the major part of their innings.

Kumar Sangakkara top scored with 76 off 102 balls, while a number of Lankan batsmen made starts but couldn't convert those into bigger scores.

With Afghans stemming the flow of runs, late hitting from Mathews and Perera took them to the total which would later be deemed enough to rout the Afghans.

Mathews scored 45 runs off 41 balls, while Perera supported his captain with 19 off 23 balls.

Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews won the toss and elected to bat.

SQUADS

SRI LANKA

MDKJ Perera, HDRL Thirimanne, KC Sangakkara, DPMD Jayawardene, LD Chandimal, AD Mathews, PC de Silva, NLTC Perera, SL Malinga, BAW Mendis, RAS Lakmal

AFGHANISTAN

Mohammad Shahzad, Asghar Stanikzai, Noor Ali Zadran, Nawroz Mangal, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari, Najibullah Zadran, Mirwais Ashraf, Shapoor Zadran, Hamza Hotak, Dawlat Zadran