Battle for Super 4 spot: Afghanistan aim for massive victory over Sri Lanka

Afghanistan will need to up their game with the ball when they face a skillful Sri Lanka in the battle of a Super4 spot in the Asia Cup here on TuesdayAfghanistan not only find themselves in a mustwin situation after the loss to Bangladesh but they also need a victory with a massive margin to finish in the top two of Group BTheir runrate is in the negative following the defeat here on Sunday night while Sri Lanka who beat Bangladesh in their opening game are in the positive with a NRR of 0951Having put 300 plus against Afghanistan Bangladesh have a much superior run rate and are all but through to the next stageThe Sri LankaAfghanistan fixture will be the second one at the Gadaffi Stadium and is expected to be a run feastIn the absence of express fast bowlers Afghanistan rely heavily on the spin duo of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Zadran Rashid went wicketless on Sunday and his team would be hoping he that he comes up with a matchwinning effort against Sri LankansBesides being ordinary in the pace department Afghanistans fielding also left a lot to be desiredThe recent form of openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran is one big positive for the sideSri Lanka on the other hand will hope that their toporder fires after the failure against BangladeshIn the absence of three injured pacers the young Matheesha Pathirana embraced the responsibility with four wickets in the opener and the slingy operator will be expected to make life tougher for the Afghanistan battersMystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana delivered with the new ball against Bangladesh and will be tasked to do the same against Shahidi and CoWe need to improve in all the departments Our bowling was not good enough and neither was our fielding Lahore is near our country so the fans were waiting for this game Hopefully they will come and support us again in the next game said Shahidi after the loss on Sunday nightSquadsAfghanistan Hashmatullah Shahidi captain Ibrahim Zadran Ikram Alikhil Najibullah Zadran Rahmanullah Gurbaz Riaz Hassan Gulbadin Naib Karim Janat Mohammad Nabi Rahmat Shah Rashid Khan Sharafuddin Ashraf Abdul Rahman Fazalhaq Farooqi Mohammad Saleem Mujeeb Ur Rahman Noor AhmadSri Lanka Dasun Shanaka captain Pathum Nissanka Dimuth Karunaratne Kusal Janith Perera Kusal Mendis Charith Asalanka Dananjaya de Silva Sadeera Samarawickrama Mahesh Theekshana Dunith Wellalage Matheesha Pathirana Kasun Rajitha Dushan Hemantha Binura Fernando and Pramod MadushanMatch starts 3 PM IST