Sri Lanka has made it to the Super Fours of the 2023 Asia Cup. They defended a total of 291 runs and, in the process, knocked Afghanistan out of the competition in a thrilling match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore today (September 5).
Afghanistan had lost their first game against Bangladesh, so they needed a big win in this match to improve their net run rate and advance to the next round. For Sri Lanka, even if they had lost by a small margin, they would have still progressed.
To simplify, during the middle of the game, it was clear that Afghanistan had to chase down the target of 292 runs in 37.1 overs (or 38.1 overs if they finished with a six after tying the scores) to make it to the Super Fours. This meant they had to score at a rate of nearly eight runs per over.
