Afghanistan crashed out of Asia Cup 2025 after suffering a crushing loss to Sri Lanka in Match 11 of the 2025 Asia Cup in Abu Dhabi. Afghanistan struggled in both the departments yesterday as Sri Lanka were good enough to beat them in all facets of the game. While Sri Lanka qualified for the Super 4s unbeaten, Bangladesh too went through at the expense of Afghanistan. There were gaping holes where Afghanistan fell behind and we will ascertain three reasons for their loss to Sri Lanka.
Losing 3 wickets in the powerplay pegged Afghanistan back
Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat first as they were not confident of chasing down a score. The openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal began well in the first two overs of the game but once Nuwan Thushara got into the act, Afghanistan flattered to deceive. Thushara picked up all the three wickets to fall in the powerplay as he got rid of Gurbaz, Karim Janat who was promoted to Number 3 for whatever reasons and Sediqullah Atal. This pushed Afghanistan further back.
We all know that their batting especially in the middle order is brittle to say the least. Once 3 wickets were down in the powerplay, it was expected that they would struggle. The Afghans lost wickets in the middle overs as the Sri Lankans chipped away at the wickets. Afghanistan were set for an embarrassing loss and had it not been for Mohammad Nabi’s whirlwind innings in the death overs, they would have really struggled. 169 was a good score but not enough in the end.
Afghanistan seriously needs to work on their batting and batting arsenal if they want to compete in multi-nation events. Bowling alone won’t win you games as batting has to fire and compliment the bowling. Going into the next series which will all be a lead up to the T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka, Afghanistan needs to seriously looking at bolstering their line-up with the bat as Nabi’s heroics couldn’t save them the blushes as they were a few runs short on that wicket.
Experienced campaigners like Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Noor Ahmad having an off-day hurts Afghanistan badly
While the issues with the bat was always there, but the Afghanistan team thanks to Mohammad Nabi’s heroics managed to get to a competitive 169/8 in 20 overs. It was not a winning score, but a competitive one at that in which at least they could fight with that score given the bowling line-up they had on paper. So, it was important that the experienced campaigners came to the party. But it was not quite the case for Afghanistan.
The spearhead of the pace attack Fazalhaq Farooqi had a day to forget as he went for 38 runs in 3 overs. Mujeeb Ur Rahman back in the side after a while did pick up a wicket but went for 42 runs in 3.4 overs. Noor Ahmad the youngster was busy gifting wides to the opposition as he finished with 1/37 in 3 overs. 3 bowlers going the distance in a 170 chase makes it very difficult for the captain to establish control and stop the flow of runs. Yes, Rashid Khan kept it tight, and so did Mohammad Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai. But that was to no avail in the end.
Afghanistan needs to make sure that going forward they cannot afford three bowlers in tandem having an off-day. One bowler having an off-day is acceptable as that can still be covered up. But if multiple bowlers start having an off-day, it becomes difficult to control the bowling and setting the field becomes a problem. All these bowlers that we mentioned are experienced bowlers and they will be hurting with this performance. They will want to come back harder and bounce back with a bang in the coming games.
Continuous non-performance of top three and brittle middle order exposes Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s main struggle is in the batting department. They were hoping that the top 3 of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, and Ibrahim Zadran to do bulk of the scoring and cover up the middle order shortcomings as Afghanistan we knew had a brittle middle order. But the top 3 hasn’t fired at all as apart from Atal in one game, the other two batters haven’t really stood up to the challenge. Afghanistan’s only hope to get good scores was the top 3 getting bulk of the scoring and maybe finishers’ job by middle order batters but that was not to be.
Atal, Ibrahim and Gurbaz failed to perform as a unit and exposed the middle order which is as brittle it can get. Yes, Azmatullah Omarzai has played some handy knocks in the middle order but he missed out last night. Mohammad Nabi played a blinder to save Afghanistan’s reputation or else they were struggling to put runs on the board. But if we look at it, the Afghans lacked firepower initially at the top and then in the middle as well. Yesterday they lost three wickets in the powerplay, and post that they lost 3 more wickets in 6.1 overs from the powerplay to be 79/6 at one stage. It is only due to Nabi that we had a good game to see.
Looking ahead to the near and distant future, Afghanistan have to address their batting issues which runs deep for them and also try and get more variety in their bowling as only packing the side with plethora of spinners won’t work against quality sides. So, Afghanistan have got a big wake-up call from which they need to come out and do well and show what they are capable of. This defeat will hurt them but is also a wake-up call for them to pull up their socks.
What Lies Ahead
We are all set for the Super 4s, but before that we have a small matter of completing the Group stage with a Group A fixture featuring India up against Oman from Abu Dhabi at 8 PM IST on 19th September 2025. This is the last league game before the Super 4s commence on Saturday. Can Oman pull off a monumental upset? Or will India continue their dominant run in Asia Cup 2025?
Find out all the answers at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi later tonight for the battle ahead as we round off the league stage tonight.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2025: Mohammad Nabi’s Brilliant 60 Takes Afghanistan Score To 169/8