Lahore: Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said that he is proud of his players who gave their 100 per cent on the field despite their disappointing two-run loss to Sri Lanka (AFG vs SL) in the Asia Cup 2023. Afghanistan had to achieve the target of 292 runs given by Sri Lanka in 37.1 overs to qualify for the Super Four due to their low run rate. But the team missed by two runs and was reduced to 289 runs in 37.4 overs.
Shahidi said, ‘I am very disappointed by this. We gave a good challenge, we gave our 100 per cent. Proud of the way the team played. I think we have played good cricket in the last two years in the ODI format as well. We are still learning a lot. We learned a lot of positive things from this tournament. We are close to the World Cup, we will learn from what we did wrong here and do better in the World Cup. The audience supported us a lot. Are thankful to them. We tried our best to give something back to them today, we feel sorry for them.
Shahidi said, ‘I am very disappointed by this. We gave a good challenge, we gave our 100 per cent. Proud of the way the team played. I think we have played good cricket in the last two years in the ODI format as well. We are still learning a lot. We learned a lot of positive things from this tournament. We are close to the World Cup, we will learn from what we did wrong here and do better in the World Cup. The audience supported us a lot. Are thankful to them. We tried our best to give something back to them today, we feel sorry for them.
Going into the Super 4, Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka was relieved that the team had somehow managed to win. He said, ‘It has been very difficult. It was difficult to defend this score. Nabi played a brilliant inning which almost took the match out of our hands. But we finally got the victory.
AFG vs SL: Didn’t know the whole equation, Afghanistan lost an easy opportunity to go to Super-4 of Asia Cup
