The Asia Cup has finally kicked off and it was the hosts who suffered the ignominy of losing the first match of the 2022 campaign after Afghanistan thrashed Sri Lanka by five wickets. Chasing a lowly target of 106, the Afghans did not break a sweat to clinch the issue with 59 balls to spare and also extracted their first win against Sri Lanka in T20Is.
This was the first time Afghanistan bowled out a team without Rashid Khan (4-0-12-0) taking a wicket which underlined their show as a collective bowling unit. The win also gave a big push to Afghanistan's net run rate (5.176) as they climbed to the top spot in Group B to brighten their Super 4 chances.
The 20-year-old Rahmanullah, who overturned an lbw decision after being given out for nought, was all class as he toyed with the Lankan bowling attack. Be it drives, pulls or lofted shots, Rahmanullah displayed an array of shots to take Afghanistan home comfortably.
Earlier, Farooqi (3/11) did the damage at the top, including wickets off successive deliveries in the opening over.
Sri Lanka had a horrendous start as they slumped to 5/3 inside two overs with Farooqi inflicting a double blow in consecutive deliveries in the opening over.
The only respite for the Islanders came from Bhanuka Rajapaksa who led their recovery with a stroke-filled 29-ball 38 (5x4s, 1x6). But two clumsy run-outs in two balls exposed the Lankans inexperience in the middle.
Group B also features Bangladesh, who take on Afghanistan at Sharjah on Tuesday.
Here's the full table after the opening game (Group B)
| Team | Matches | Wins | Losses | Points | NRR |
| Afghanistan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5.176 |
| Bangladesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sri Lanka | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
