, Sept. 19 -- Bangladesh will wake up breathing easier today. Their Asia Cup fate, dangling on a knife's edge, was salvaged by Sri Lanka, who beat Afghanistan by six wickets in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night to send both themselves and Bangladesh into the Super Four.

For Bangladesh, the equation had been clear: beat Afghanistan on Tuesday, then pray Sri Lanka did the same.

They delivered the first part with an eight-run win, but their poor net run rate meant only Sri Lanka's success could keep them alive.

Afghanistan gave themselves a fighting chance with the bat. Veteran allrounder Mohammad Nabi rolled back the years, smashing 60 off just 22 balls, including six towering sixes, to drag his side to 169 for eight. Five of those came in th...