The much-awaited Asia Cup 2022 begins this Saturday in Dubai where Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will be facing each other in the first match of the tournament. The Dubai International Cricket Stadium will be hosting the inaugural match. The highly-anticipated India vs Pakistan game as well will be played at the same venue, the very next day. Here, we will be discussing the Pitch Report for Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan match and the head-to-head records of both sides.
Talking about the recent performances of both sides in the shortest format of the game, both Srilanka and Afghanistan have lost their last T20 assignments. Just before the Asia Cup, Afghanistan suffered a 3-2 loss against Ireland whereas the Srilankan side last played a T20 series back in June where they lost 2-1 to Australia. Both sides would hence be looking for a winning start in Asia Cup.
Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan head-to-head records
Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have faced each other only once in the T20 internationals. The sole game happened back in 2016 when both sides faced each other in the T20 World Cup. Sri Lanka had an upper hand back then and won the game by a margin of 6 wickets.
Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Asia Cup Pitch Report
The Pitch at the Dubai International Stadium is a balanced surface which provides good assistance to both, the batters as well as the bowlers. There is help for the pacers in the initial stages of the match and later the spinners can come in and exploit the slow nature of the pitch. Hence, the bowlers would enjoy their time at the Dubai International Stadium.
Batting tends to get easier on the Dubai pitch as the game progresses, hence, keeping wickets in hand towards the end would be the key here. It has also been seen in Dubai lately, that the teams chasing a total have had a large amount of success. Hence, it would be wise to bowl first after winning the toss here.
Asia Cup 2022: Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Winner Prediction
The Srilankan side has flaws in their batting line-up which an experienced spinner like Rashid Khan would easily exploit. Talking about the Srilankan bowling, the side does have a strong spin department with Maheesh Theekshana, Hasaranaga, and Dhananjaya de Silva in the squad. However, the Lankans will be missing the services of Dushmantha Chameera in the pace department as he is suffering from a calf injury.
On the other side, Afghanistan as well will be banking on their spin bowlers. A lot would depend on Rashid Khan and the other two spinners, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammed Nabi. The pace department of Afghanistan is inexperienced and would be targeted by the opposition batters. Afghanistan’s batting department as well as weak links and lacks experience.
It is expected that Sri Lanka, being a more experienced side as compared to Afghanistan would manage to win the game.
