The much awaited Asia Cup 2022 is finally here and we are all so excited. The first contest of the tournament is going to take place on 27th August 2022 at the Dubai International Stadium between Srilanka and Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has experienced a fair amount of ups and downs since the 2021 World Cup. They fell short in the ODI series with Bangladesh but evened things up in the T20I series, giving them a tough fight. They completely swept both the ODI and T20I series against Zimbabwe. But the team’s 3-2 loss in the five-match T20I series against Ireland was shocking. Thus, in their last 5 games, their team form reads LWWLL.

The team might have lost every T20 International series they’ve played since the 2021 T20 World Cup. They suffered losses of 4-1 in Australia against Australia, 3-0 in India against India, and 2-1 at home against Australia.

Every team faces challenges, but Sri Lanka’s seem more significant and protracted. The team is changing from being among the best to ever play the game to having suffered the most defeats in a single season. We may have to wait a little longer to see new players in their finest form as they still seem to be adjusting to the international stage. For them, Asia Cup looks like the best chance to do it.

Afghanistan is undoubtedly a side that has experienced a good amount of hardship on the road to simply playing cricket. Afghanistan has gone a long way and built a name for itself in international cricket, moving from playing in venues outside of their native country, such as those in India or the UAE. Playing in the group where there are teams like Srilanka and Bangladesh, Afghanistan will try to turn heads will their performance as underdogs in the tournament.

How will the pitch play?

The game will take place at Dubai International Stadium. The pitch here is fairly even and offers both bowlers and batsmen a significant amount of help. Because of its sluggish nature, spinners have good traction. The average score is 140.

What to expect in middle?

Given that the Asia Cup 2022 is taking place in T20 format and anything can go right in it, we can expect Srilanka and Afghanistan to perform well. They have batters who have a reputation of hitting it hard and long. They have top quality bowlers be it Rashid Khan or Hasaranga who can turn a game with one spell.

We can expect Srilanka to score somewhere around 50+ in powerplay, 40+ in death overs and an overall score of 150+.

For Afghanistan, we can expect them to score 40+ in the powerplay, 30+ in the death overs and an overall score of 140+.

Players to Watch out for:

The game is a competition between T20 specialists. From Afghanistan, we can expect Rashid Khan, captain Mohammad Nabi, wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mujeeb Ur Rahman to perform for them.

For Srilanka, we should keep our eyes on Pathum Nissanka, Bhanuka Rajaspaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga, Theekshana and Dasun Shanaka.

Srilanka vs Afghanistan Probable Playing XI:

Srilanka: Pathum Nissanka, Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajaspaksa, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Theekshana, Chamika Karunaratne, Asitha Fernando, Jeffrey Vandersay

Afghanistan: Najibullah Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Usman Ghani, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad, Karim Janat


Srilanka VS Afghanistan: Who will win?

The competition is going to be tough. Srilanka is a team that carries a history and it should motivate them to bring out the best performance given that they are one of the most successful teams in the tournament by record. For afghanistan, they are new in the jungle. They have talent to fight the giants but it hasn’t been put to test yet and it will be interesting to see how they flare in the tournament. As far as this match is concerned, we believe it is going to be a close contest with Srilanka taking a lead.