"Humse mang lete calculator"- Top 10 funny memes after Afghanistan batters' unawareness about winning equations knocks them out of Asia Cup 2023
Afghanistan batter's miscalculation cost them dearly as they got eliminated from Asia Cup 2023 on Tuesday (September 5) after a narrow two-run loss against Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka batted first in the contest after winning the toss. On the back of Kusal Mendis (92) and a few other vital contributions in the batting line-up, Sri Lanka notched up a decent score of 291/8 in 50 overs.
Afghanistan had to chase down the target set by Lankans around 38th over to advance to the Super Four. They got off to a poor start in the chase by losing both openers with just 27 on the board in five overs. Rahmat Shah (45), Hashmatullah Shahidi (59), and Mohammad Nabi (65) played well in the middle-order to keep their side in the hunt.
Sri Lankan bowlers kept chipping away with wickets and put sustained pressure on the opponents who were trying to be aggressive to reach the target as soon as possible to book a spot in the Super Four stage. Things got interesting in the end as Rashid Khan was left stranded at the non-striker's end with the last batter Fazalhaq Farooqi at the crease in the 38th over.
Even when Afghanistan still had a chance to qualify for the next stage, Fazal surprisingly defended balls and did not even try to give a strike to Rashid Khan by taking a single.
He eventually got out off the fourth ball of the over, and Afghanistan ended on 289. Interestingly, if they had reached 295 in 37.5 overs, they could have advanced to the next phase of the continental tournament.
Fans were not pleased with the team analyst of Afghanistan, who did not inform the players about the winning equations in the end. It eventually led to their ouster from Asia Cup 2023. Fans expressed their reactions on the matter by sharing hilarious memes. Here are some of them:
"It's very hard to defend such a total with four fielders": Dasun Shanaka after a narrow win against Afghanistan
Speaking at the post-match presentation on Saturday, Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka reflected on the win, saying:
"It's a tough one. It's very hard to defend such a total with four fielders. Dhanajaya and my wickets were the important part of the game. Kusal and Charith built the innings, but we couldn't finish the innings well. We didn't chip today in the end.
Shanaka added:
"Credit to Theekshana and Wellalage, they provided a great finish and got us to 292. Kasun's couple of wickets opened things for us. Nabi played an incredible innings today, which almost took the game away from us, however, we managed to come away with the win.
Pakistan and Bangladesh will square off in the first Super Four match of Asia Cup 2023 on September 6 in Lahore.