Asia Cup: Sri Lanka crush Afghanistan to make final, ruin India's party

Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan by 129 runs in Mirpur on Monday to enter the final of Asia Cup 2014, effectively knocking India out. All images courtesy AP and AFP.

Sri Lanka elected to bat after winning the toss but their start was not perfect as Afghanistan left-arm pacer Shapoor Zadran dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne for 5.

Kusal Perera, though, batted enterprisingly and scored 33 off 49 balls.

Mirwais Ashraf was the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan, scalping 2 for 29 including wickets of opener Kusal Perera and Mahela Jayawardene.

Sangakkara was the top scorer for Sri Lanka with 76, his 85th half-century in ODIs.

Angelo Mathews scored an unbeaten 45 and his lusty hits towards the end took Sri Lanka to a challenging total of 253/6.

Afghanistan wicket-keeper batsman Mohd Shahzad started his innings with a bang, scoring a six off Lanka pacer Suranga Lakmal, but he lost his wicket just two balls later as the Afghans were 8/1 in the second over.

Asghar Stanikzai looked good in his brief stay of a 34-ball 27 before being bowled by Thisara Perera.

The mystery of Ajantha Mendis was hard to solve for the Afghans, who collapsed in the middle overs.

Afghanistan skipper Mohd Nabi was the pick of the batsmen as he hit a strokeful 37 off 42 balls.

Thisara Perera contributed both with the bat and the ball as he took three wickets to go along with his crucial unbeaten 19 with the bat.