Fireworks from Rahmanullah Gurbaz (70 off 43) and Hazratullah Zazai (45 off 22) led Afghanistan to a big total that eventually proved just enough for a three run win against Sri Lanka in the final T20I in Dambulla on Wednesday (February 21). Pathum Nissanka (60 off 30) and Kamindu Mendis (65* off 39) fought hard for the hosts but they fell agonisingly short of the target in a pulsating finish.

On what was easily the best batting surface of the series, Afghanistan opted to bat and were given the perfect start by their openers. Gurbaz was the initial aggressor as he found his mojo from the get-go. Zazai took a bit of time before exploding into his own set of powerful strokes. The duo plundered 72 off the powerplay and it put Sri Lanka firmly on the back foot.

With Gurbaz and Zazai going great guns, Sri Lanka needed a breakthrough to stem the momentum. Akila Dananjaya did just that by getting the left-hander LBW. It started a passage of play where the scoring rate dipped a bit. Sri Lankan captain Wanindu Hasaranga produced the big breakthrough of Gurbaz while Dananjaya took out Zadran to inflict a slowdown to the innings.

Afghanistan looked set for a score in excess of 200 when their openers were firing but the middle overs slowdown threatened to end their score on a much lower level. However, Azmatullah Omarzai (31 off 23) produced a few big hits and young Mohammad Ishaq struck a few blows in the final over to take the score well past the 200-run mark. Sri Lanka were guilty of bowling a few freebies at the death, notably Matheesha Pathirana who sprayed the ball to gift too many wides.

In-form Nissanka got going, like he had all through the ODIs and T20Is, to give Sri Lanka the perfect tempo to the chase. Kusal Mendis was scratchy in his stay and played second fiddle to Nissanka who went hammer and tongs in the powerplay which yielded 64 for the hosts. Mendis fell at the fag end of that phase while Kusal Perera perished for a duck shortly thereafter. Nissanka, though, kept playing his shots and looked in ominous touch. Afghanistan suffered a blow with Sharafuddin Ashraf injuring himself while taking the catch of Mendis. Qais Ahmad came in as the concussion sub.

Moments after playing a slog-sweep for six, Nissanka clutched his hamstring in pain and was forced to retire hurt. With the series already sealed and a World Cup in few months time, it was the wise call. But in the context of this game, it was a huge blow for Sri Lanka and it gave Afghanistan the opportunity to put on a squeeze. They not only managed to do so but also picked up wickets including the big one of Hasaranga.

Afghanistan thought they could run away with the game but Kamindu and Samarawickrama got stuck into the bowling, using the batting-friendly pitch to their advantage. The required rate continued to be steep and although Samarawickrama fell to the pressure of the chase, Kamindu didn’t back off. He saw senior players in Angelo Mathews and Dasun Shanaka (who did hit a couple of handy blows) perish but kept going, almost single handedly keeping Sri Lanka in the game.

It came down to the final over with Sri Lanka needing 19 for a win against Wafadar Momand. Kamindu found the fence off the first and third ball with a dot in between, to get the equation to 11 needed off 3. This is when Wafadar bowled a beamer of sorts, clearly a waist-high no ball except that the two on-field umps didn’t think so. Kamindu had stepped out slightly but it still seemed a clear no-ball. Eventually, that proved massive to the eventual result, with Kamindu hitting the final ball for six – a shot that didn’t matter as Sri Lanka fell just short.

Brief scores:
Afghanistan 209/5 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 70, Hazratullah Zazai 45, Azmatullah Omarazi 31; Matheesha Pathirana 2-42, Wanidu Haaranga 1-35,  Akila Dananjaya 2-37) beat Sri Lanka 206/6 in 20 overs (Kamindu Mendis 65*, Sadeera Samarawickrema 23,  Pathum Nissanka 60*; Fareed  Ahmad 1-30, Noor Ahmad 1-37, Quais Ahmad 1-17,  Mohammad Nabi 2-35) by three runs.