Asia Cup 2018: Match 3, Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka – Statistical Preview

The Group B was expected to be a tight one but Bangladesh’s record win over Sri Lanka put them ahead in the line for making it to the Super-4s. Afghanistan will be hoping to book their place in the next round with their maiden win over the Sri Lankan team. The Lankan bowlers need to give substantial support to Lasith Malinga who bowled his heart out in a losing cause in the tournament opener. Their batting might struggle once again if the Afghanistan spinners find some help from the surface in Abu Dhabi.

All the stats and numbers ahead of the crucial Group B clash between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka:

2-6 – Sri Lanka have won only two of their eight ODI matches at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Afghanistan featured in only one ODI at this venue and ended up on the losing side. The Lankans have lost each of their last six ODI matches in UAE.

3 – Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have faced off in three International matches thus far including twice in the ODI format. The Lankans ended up winning on all the three occasions.

4/23 – Lasith Malinga’s 4/23 in the first game is the 2nd best bowling figures in losing side in an Asia Cup game. Sohail Tanvir had figures of 5/48 in the 2008 Super-4s game against Sri Lanka.

5 – Afghanistan won each of their last five ODI matches while chasing. In all those five matches, the Afghans were fielding first after losing the toss.

14.05 – Kusal Mendis’ batting average in his last 20 ODI innings. The Sri Lankan batsman has scored only 267 runs in his previous 20 innings without any fifty-plus score and bagged five ducks. Mendis completed 1000 ODI runs in only 28 innings with 12 fifty-plus scores.

10 – Afghanistan have won ten of the 15 matches they played in ODI cricket in 2018. Only England has won more ODI matches in 2018 than Afghanistan thus far. The No.1 ranked ODI side have won 14 of the 19 matches they played this year.

108 – Rashid Khan has bagged as many as 108 wickets in his ODI career thus far in only 47 matches. Since his ODI debut in October 2015, no other bowler has 100 ODI wickets.

496 – Number of wickets Lasith Malinga has bagged in his International cricket for Sri Lanka. He needs four more wickets to become the 4th Sri Lankan to claim 500 International wickets.

2963 – Runs Thisara Perera has amassed in his International career thus far. The all-rounder needs 37 more runs to become the 3rd Sri Lankan after Chaminda Vaas and Sanath Jayasuriya to score 3000 International runs and bag 200 wickets in International cricket.

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