The Sri Lanka National Cricket Team vs Afghanistan National Cricket Team Match Scorecard from September 18, 2025 in Abu Dhabi is dramatic, brilliantly contested, and ultimately settled by a man named Kusal Mendis who decided that the pressure situation was, apparently, fine and normal and nothing to worry about.
Disclaimer: This article covers the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team vs Afghanistan National Cricket Team Match Scorecard from the Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025, Match 11, Group B (September 18, 2025). All scores, statistics, and facts are sourced from ESPNcricinfo and official Asia Cup records. This article is for informational and educational purposes only.
Match At A Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Match | 11th Match, Group B, Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 |
| Date | September 18, 2025 (Night) |
| Venue | Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi |
| Toss | Not confirmed — Sri Lanka batted second |
| Afghanistan Score | 169/8 in 20 overs |
| Sri Lanka Score | 171/4 in 18.4 overs |
| Result | Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets (8 balls remaining) |
| Player of the Match | Kusal Mendis — 74* (52 balls) |
| Cricinfo MVP | Mohammad Nabi (AFG) — 106.23 points |
| Key Record | Nabi-Noor 55-run stand — AFG’s highest 8th wicket T20I partnership |
| Outcome | Sri Lanka qualified for Super Four; Afghanistan eliminated |
The Context: Everything Was On the Line
Before the first ball was bowled, this match already had enormous weight behind it.
Sri Lanka had already won their previous Group B games. A win here meant a perfect group stage with 100% record. For Afghanistan, this was essentially a knockout game — lose, and they were going home. For Bangladesh, watching nervously from the sidelines, a Sri Lanka win would put them through to the Super Four regardless of their own result.
High stakes. Night match. Abu Dhabi. Spinners on a turning pitch — or so everyone expected.
The Sri Lanka National Cricket Team vs Afghanistan National Cricket Team Match Scorecard started with an unexpected weapon: Nuwan Thushara, the right-arm fast bowler, decided this was his night.
First Innings: Afghanistan Bat — Thushara Takes Complete Control
Afghanistan sent out Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran to open. The plan was presumably to attack early, get a good powerplay score, and then rely on their exceptional batting depth.
Thushara had a different plan entirely.
He dismissed Gurbaz in the 2nd over with a slower ball that Gurbaz swung wildly at — skying it off the outside edge to short third man. 26/1.
Two balls later, Atal was cleaned up by a perfect in-swinger — the ball starting outside off and darting back between bat and pad. 40/3. Three wickets in the powerplay from Thushara, and Afghanistan were reeling.
The powerplay score? 45/3 — which tells you exactly how effective Sri Lanka’s new-ball bowling was.
Thushara’s spell was outstanding — three wickets in the powerplay, a fourth late in the innings, all for just 18 runs. His figures of 4/18 were the best bowling performance of the Asia Cup 2025 at that point.
Without their top order, Afghanistan were forced to rebuild through Ibrahim Zadran (24) and Rashid Khan (24) — both of whom played sensibly but couldn’t manufacture the explosions needed to set a genuinely challenging total. Afghanistan crawled to 100 in 14.3 overs and looked like finishing around 140-145.
And then Mohammad Nabi walked in.
The Nabi Over: Five Sixes. One Over. Complete Chaos.
Dunith Wellalage was given the final over — the 20th — to bowl to Mohammad Nabi. Prior to this, Wellalage had been excellent — just 17 runs from his other overs. The decision made sense.
What Nabi then did makes absolutely no sense. At least not to anyone who wasn’t him.
Five sixes. In one over. All in the V. All controlled. All deliberate. Wellalage bowled length deliveries — good deliveries — and Nabi deposited them into the stands with a flat bat and remarkable clarity of mind.
The over produced 32 runs off 5 deliveries (the only non-six being a wide). Afghanistan added 49 runs in the last two overs alone — going from a foregone-conclusion total of around 140 to a genuinely competitive 169/8.
Nabi finished with an unbeaten 60 off just 22 balls — a strike rate of 272.72, featuring five sixes and three fours. He was simultaneously the highest scoring batter AND the Cricinfo MVP of the entire match — despite being on the losing side.
That tells you everything about how extraordinary his innings was in what was otherwise a difficult night for Afghanistan.
The Nabi-Noor Partnership: A Record in the Rubble
One more thing worth noting: Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmad’s 55-run partnership for the 8th wicket is Afghanistan’s highest-ever 8th wicket partnership in T20Is — breaking the previous record of 44 between Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
Records are typically celebrated. This one felt bittersweet — a record built in the ruins of an already-lost innings that became the scaffold for genuine hope in what became a dramatic last stand.
Second Innings: The Chase — Kusal Mendis Is Just Built Different
Sri Lanka needed 170 in 20 overs. The Abu Dhabi pitch was playing slower than Dubai — Rashid Khan himself acknowledged this — and Afghanistan’s varied spin attack (Nabi, Mujeeb, Noor Ahmad, Rashid) presented a real challenge.
Pathum Nissanka fell early — 22/1. A loose pull shot that found Mujeeb at short fine leg. Massive wicket given how influential Nissanka is.
Kamil Mishara then fell in the powerplay (5th over) — 47/2. Nabi’s tossed-up delivery dipping on him late, a simple catch at extra cover. Afghanistan smelling blood.
Sri Lanka at 47/2 after 5.2 overs. Target: 170. The chase seemed in the balance.
This is where Kusal Mendis took ownership.
He navigated Afghanistan’s spinners with exceptional skill — using sweeps and pulls to take on the faster-spinning deliveries, refusing to be bogged down in the middle overs. He didn’t go big early. He accumulated. He managed. He anchored.
At 82/2 in 10 overs, Sri Lanka were actually slightly behind the rate — but Kusal was still there, and that was enough.
Kusal Perera contributed 28, Charith Asalanka was caught for a frustrating 24 in the 15th over (Rashid claiming a sharp running catch). With 119/4 and 51 runs needed from 5 overs, Afghanistan still had hope.
Then came Kamindu Mendis — the other Mendis, at 21 years old, playing like he’d been in this situation a hundred times before. He struck two pivotal sixes — one off Noor Ahmad, one off Farooqi — to take pressure off Kusal and allow the senior man to bat freely.
Kusal’s unbeaten 74 off 52 balls closed out the chase with 8 deliveries to spare.
The winning shot — a bludgeon to deep midwicket off a dragged-down delivery — set off celebrations not just in the Sri Lanka dressing room, but in Bangladesh too.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh both qualified for the Super Four. Afghanistan — T20 World Cup semi-finalists just months earlier — were eliminated.
Conclusion
The Sri Lanka National Cricket Team vs Afghanistan National Cricket Team Match Scorecard from the Asia Cup 2025 tells two different stories in one game. Nuwan Thushara and Afghanistan’s batting collapse in the powerplay told the first story — complete Sri Lanka dominance. Mohammad Nabi’s insane 60 off 22 told the second — the incredible resilience of Afghan cricket even in defeat.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What was the result of the Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Asia Cup 2025 match?
The Sri Lanka National Cricket Team vs Afghanistan National Cricket Team Match Scorecard from Asia Cup 2025, Match 11 showed: Afghanistan scored 169/8, and Sri Lanka chased it down in 18.4 overs — winning by 6 wickets with 8 balls remaining.
Q2. Who was the Player of the Match in the Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Asia Cup 2025 game?
Kusal Mendis of Sri Lanka won the Player of the Match award for his unbeaten 74 off 52 balls — a match-winning innings that navigated Afghanistan’s spin threat brilliantly and anchored Sri Lanka’s chase from start to finish.
Q3. What did Nuwan Thushara do in the Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Asia Cup game?
Nuwan Thushara took 4 wickets for just 18 runs — with 3 of those wickets coming in the powerplay. He dismissed Gurbaz, Atal, and one more top-order batter in the first six overs, effectively wrecking Afghanistan’s batting plans from the outset.
Q4. What was Mohammad Nabi’s performance in the Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka game?
Mohammad Nabi hit an extraordinary 60 off just 22 balls — including 5 sixes in the final over alone (the 20th over, bowled by Dunith Wellalage). Despite being on the losing side, he was named the Cricinfo MVP with 106.23 impact points. He and Noor Ahmad also set Afghanistan’s highest 8th wicket T20I partnership (55 runs).
Q5. Did Afghanistan qualify for the Super Four in Asia Cup 2025?
No. Afghanistan were eliminated from the Asia Cup 2025 Group Stage after losing to Sri Lanka in this match. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh both qualified for the Super Four from Group B. This was a significant upset — Afghanistan had reached the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup earlier in 2025.
Q6. Where was the Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Asia Cup 2025 match played?
The match was played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on September 18, 2025 (Night match) as part of the Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025, Group B.
