Afghanistan and Sri Lanka clash for qualification, as both teams will want their batters to fire to help their bowlers.
Afghanistan in must-win territory, Sri Lanka look to avoid big defeat.
According to the headline, Afghanistan must win in order to advance to the Super Four; else, Bangladesh would advance before them. All Sri Lanka needs to do is not get a beating like never before.
For instance, if Sri Lanka bats first and reaches 150, Afghanistan would need to chase that total down in 11.4 overs to eliminate Sri Lanka and send Bangladesh to the Super Four with them. Bangladesh would need to score 84 runs or less to qualify if Afghanistan batted first and reached 150.
In essence, Afghanistan must prevail. Ideally, Bangladesh wants Sri Lanka to prevail. However, Bangladesh must lose by a huge margin if Sri Lanka loses.
In the middle of the third decade of the twenty-first century, cricket is like this. Despite their refusal to shake hands after a game, the organisers insist that India and Pakistan play each other at every major tournament. They have the best possibility of meeting at least twice because of the way this Asia Cup is set up. The only option left to everyone else is to concede that the altar of capitalism must now be sacrificed in order to achieve competitive balance.
For the record, Sri Lanka has the capacity to collapse. After another Pathum Nissanka fifty, their middle order had a typical tumble, and they nearly lost against Hong Kong on Monday. To find an instance where they were all out in double figures, you only need to go back around three weeks: Zimbabwe’s 80-point thumping of them in Harare. In their eight Twenty20 International encounters, they have also suffered three defeats to Afghanistan.
But over the past few years, the bowlers for both teams have been their strongest suit. Both Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan are superb legspinners who contribute greatly at bat. Additionally, both teams have flexibility in their T20 play and frequently rely on all-rounders. The batting orders are also brittle, and there are questions about whether their lower middle orders can compete with the world’s top teams.
But the onus is on Afghanistan to prevail. Just getting by will be sufficient for Sri Lanka. They will support themselves to regroup, much like they did in 2022, when they won this competition, if they get to the Super Four. Even more recently, however, Afghanistan made a strong tournament push when they advanced to the T20 World Cup semifinals the previous year.