Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan: Second T20 international – as it happened

 Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan: Second T20 international – as it happenedThis page is now closed. Thank you for joining us. These were the updates as Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan by 72 runs in their T20 cricket match in Dambulla on Monday, February 19

Goodbye

That’s it from our live coverage of the second T20 international of the three-match series.Sri Lanka take the series 2-0, and Afghanistan have lost all six matches on the tour so far.

There’s Champions League action to come on Tuesday and Wednesday from our live sport pages, and we’ll have the final match in this series and the first of the New Zealand and Australia series.

We hope you enjoyed the coverage of this one and can join us again soon.For now, though, from me, Kevin Hand, it’s goodbye.

Hasaranga credits the batters

The Sri Lankan captain says the batters have been crucial to the series win.

“If our openers go well, then we can get to 170 and 180, and I would always back our bowlers from there,” Hasaranga said at the post-match ceremony.“There’s only four games to go until the World Cup, so I want to test our bench.”

Ibrahim admits the top order got it wrong

“We tried to have a good start in the powerplay and give good momentum to the team,” the Afghanistan skipper says in explaining that his side got it wrong with the bat.

“Cricket is all about the mind. If you don’t execute well, you can’t win.”

Mathews is player of the match

“I struggled to get going for the first 10 or 15 ball but got going after that,” Angelo Mathews said at the post-match ceremony after recording 42 in the Sri Lanka innings.

New Zealand make changes for the Australia series

We have a cricket double bill coming up on Wednesday with the final match of Afghanistan’s tour of Sri Lanka.

Before that, though, we’ll bring you live coverage of the first T20 of the series between New Zealand and Australia.

The Kiwis have had their injury woes coming into the series, so will have their work cut out against the 2023 Cricket World Cup champions.

Sri Lanka take the series

That’s a 2-0 lead for the hosts in the three-match series.

One game is to come in the Dambulla stadium, where Afghanistan will be trying to avoid a 7-0 whitewash in this tour.

Six straight tour defeats for Afghanistan

This will be painful for the visitors, who pride themselves on their T20 cricket above all else.

Only two Afghanistan batters made it into the twenties and neither made it out of them.