Sri Lanka 6-296 (Lahiru Thirimanne 102, Kumar Sangakkara 67, Angelo Mathews 55*, Umar Gul 2-38) beat Pakistan 284 (Umar Akmal 74, Misbah-ul-Haq 73, Lasith Malinga 5-52) by 12 runs.
A devastating fast bowling spell from Lasith Malinga and an excellent century by Lahiru Thirimanne led their side to a superb victory against Pakistan.
The Islanders amassed 296 runs for the loss of six wickets in 50 overs and the Green Caps were bowled out for 284 with seven balls to spare.
Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his lethal quick bowling.
The inaugural match of the Asia Cup was played on Tuesday, February 25, 2014, at Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah.
Earlier, Angelo Mathews, the captain of the Lankan Lions, won the toss, elected to bat and lost the first wickets at 28. Lahiru Thirimanne and Kumar Sangakkara batted fluently with regular boundaries. The first went past his fifty in the 20th over and his partner attained his 84th ODI half century seven overs later. The partnership was separated at 189 when Sangakkara was gone for 67 and was replaced by Mahela Jayawardene.
Lahiru Thirimanne despatched his second ODI hundred but was clean bowled by Saeed Ajmal for 102. Jayawardene departed for 13 while Mathews took over the task of scoring after that and attained his 18th ODI fifty in the process. The latter remained unbeaten for 55 as the Islanders powered 6-296 after 50 overs.
Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi were the top wicket takers with two wickets each and Saeed Ajmal got one.
Pakistan went down by one wicket at 28 while Ahmed Shehzad along with Mohammad Hafeez tried to craft the innings. The score was taken to 77 when the first surrendered his wicket for 28 and the latter was declared leg before wicket off Mathews at 18. The score board displayed 3-83 in 13.3 overs when Sohaib Maqsood and his skipper, Misbah-ul-Haq got together in the park. The first became the next victim at 121 for 17 as Umar Akmal appeared in the center.
The runs started flowing from the willows of the two batsmen and Misbah-ul-Haq reached his 36th ODI half century in the 36th over. Umar Akmal changed his gears and rushed to his 18th ODI fifty with a four and enhanced the total to 242 after 42.3 overs. Umar Akmal was caught behind by Sangakkara for 74 and Misbah-ul-Haq went back to the pavilion after contributing 73. The lower order batting of Pakistan was unable to deliver and their entire innings was rolled back for 284 in 48.5 overs.
Lasith Malinga was the star performer with five wickets, Suranga Lakmal held two whereas Sachithra Senanayake, Chaturanga Silva and Angelo Mathews shared one wicket each.
Sri Lanka clinched the interesting encounter by a margin of 12 runs and grabbed four points.
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