Afghanistan got knocked out of the Asia Cup 2025 after losing against Sri Lanka at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday (September 18).

The Rashid Khan-led side entered the continental event with a reputation of the second-best team after India. However, Afghanistan failed to live up to the expectations and faced a group-stage exit.

While the Afghan side opened their campaign with a thumping 94-run victory over Hong Kong, they were outplayed by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in their next two fixtures, leading to their early elimination.

As a result, their recent brilliant run in the multinational tournaments came to an end. Afghanistan cricket has been on a rise ever since they qualified for the T20 World Cup 2024 semifinals. Since June 2024, they have won 11 out of 19 T20Is, boasting a better win percentage than Pakistan and South Africa in the same time period.

However, their recent loss in the tri-series against Pakistan and the UAE, followed by the first-round exit from the Asia Cup have proved to be a setback in their meteoric rise in international cricket.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan said he wasn’t too pleased with his team’s efforts and expected more from his men in the tournament.

“Mohammad Nabi’s 5 sixes were some unbelievable hitting, and I think that put us in a good position on the scoreboard to defend. However, I feel we didn’t bowl as well as we should have, and that’s why we couldn’t defend the total,” Rashid stated.

Afghanistan had a great chance to seal their place in the Super 4 by beating Bangladesh in their second group game. However, they faltered in the run chase and fell nine runs short of 155-run target.

Reflecting on their loss, Rashid said: “Abu Dhabi offers spinning wickets, which are quite different from Dubai. It’s a much more spin-friendly wicket there. Still, if you play good cricket and take good shots, I feel it’s possible to chase totals around 170-180. We had a great chance in the last game but couldn’t chase 150, and that’s how things happen in T20 cricket. You shouldn’t overthink it, just move forward and correct the mistakes.”

Rashid also acknowledged that the Asia Cup early exit left him surprised as well, as they had expected to reach at least the Super 4 round after their preparations. However, the Afghanistan captain vowed to come back stronger from the setback.

“Over the last three years, we’ve played a lot of ICC events and Asia Cups, and we’ve had great preparation for every big competition. I was expecting more from the boys in this tournament, and we definitely weren’t expecting to be out this early. We worked very hard and trained really well, and the goal was to at least reach the next round, like the semi-final we made in the last T20 World Cup. But that’s the nature of T20, it’s fast-paced, and once you get stuck, it’s hard to get out. We will analyse ourselves, learn from it, and come back stronger,” he remarked.

Afghanistan’s next assignment is a three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, slated to get underway on October 2. They will then take part in a T20I tri-series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka in November.