KABUL: Following Sri Lanka's Asia Cup win, people in Afghanistan took to the streets to celebrate the sixth title win of the island nation, which is currently going through severe economic crisis.
A brilliant half-century from Bhanuka Rajapaksa and fiery spells from spinner Wanindu Hasaranga and pacer Pramod Madushan helped Sri Lanka lift THEIR sixth Asia Cup title, defeating Pakistan by 24 runs in the final in Dubai on Sunday.
In a video shared by Afghanistan journalist Abdulhaq Omeri, a huge crowd of people was seen on the streets, with some cheering and some dancing with joy after Sri Lanka's win.
People also took to social media to congratulate Sri Lanka on their win and also to poke fun at the Pakistani team's performance in the final, especially while fielding.
"Congratulations Thank You Sri Lanka for making us very Happy.. Afghanistan is cheering & celebrating Sr Lanka win," tweeted a user.
A user under ICC's post about Sri Lanka being crowned as champs mocked Pakistan for not being able to defeat Sri Lanka in both of their matches, while Afghanistan did it once.
"We beat the Asia Cup champions but you lost 2 times," tweeted the user.
Under the same post, another user posted a video of Afghanistan fans celebrating SL's win by dancing in the streets.
"This is how Afghanistan people celebrating Sri Lanka's victory. #AsiaCup2022," he tweeted.
Another Twitter user from Afghanistan expressed happiness after Pakistan's loss in the final.
"Pakistans downfall is my happiness," the user tweeted.
This comes after clashes were reported between the supporters of Afghanistan and Pakistan after the latter won the cricket match in the 'Super 4' phase of the tournament in Sharjah on Wednesday.
Afghanistan themselves had a decent outing at Asia Cup 2022. They qualified for the 'Super 4' phase of the tournament after wins over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in group stage, but could not score any win in the 'Super 4' stage, losing to Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India.
Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by 24 runs in the final on Sunday.
Sri Lanka pulled off a remarkable comeback from a poor position in powerplay while batting, with the help of Rajapaksa (71*) and Hasaranga (36) to reach 170/6 in 20 overs.
While defending that total, spells of Hasaranga (3/27) and Madushan (4/34) helped the islanders seal victory despite a threatening stand of 61-runs between Mohammad Rizwan (55) and Iftikhar Ahmed (32).
