BRISBANE: Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi cited the bowlers bowling wayward and not sticking to the right line and lengths as the reason for the team's loss against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
The Afghanistan team was knocked out following their loss against Sri Lanka in the Super-12 encounter at the Gabba.
Nabi targeted his bowlers for not sticking to their plans and bowling too full on the wicket which made shot-making easy for the Sri Lankan batters. "The fast bowlers bowled too full and we erred with our lines and lengths. We gave away too many opportunities for them to hit," explained the captain. The all-rounder also talked about the team's batting performance after it failed to put up a good total after the brilliant start they got.
"We got a good start in the powerplay. We didn't keep the momentum going. We tried to post a good score on the board. The wicket got slower towards the end," stated Nabi while talking about their batting.
"We didn't play any game in the last 10 days, we didn't get any momentum. We have one more game, hopefully we do well," Nabi also cited the lack of match practice as the reason for their loss after the last game of Afghanistan was washed out due to rain.
Buoyed by the match-winning knock of Dhananjaya de Silva and Wanindu Hasaranga's three-wicket haul, Sri Lanka registered their second tournament win to keep their T20 World Cup dream alive.
Opting to bat first, the Afghan inning started cautiously with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Usman Ghani seeing off the new ball. Gurbaz sensed the need to score runs and took the initiative to attack the Sri Lankan bowlers.
However, the team kept losing wickets at regular intervals to post a paltry total of 144/8.
Wanindu Hasaranga was declared the 'Player of the Match' for his superb bowling performance.
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