Lasith Malinga’s heroic with the ball followed by the third ODI hundred of Lahiru Thirimanne enabled Sri Lanka lift their fifth Asia Cup trophy by defeating defending champions Pakistan by five wickets at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
It was the third occasion for Sri Lanka yesterday who won a tournament chasing more than 250 runs and the credits were shared by Malinga for his five-wicket haul and Thirimanne for his second hundred in the tournament – the first was also against Pakistan in the opening game at Fatullah.
Sri Lanka were off to a 56-run partnership in their chase of 260 before Saeed Ajmal struck twice in two balls to create a panic. Ajmal in his second over of the game first removed Kusal Perera, who went down the track only to see the bells removed by Umar Akmal, before trapping the big fish Kumar Sangakkara lbw for a golden duck.
The in-form Sangakkara’s departure was a huge boost for the Pakistanis, but a 156-run stand between Thirimanne and Mahela Jayawardene for the third-wicket saw the Lankans break out of trouble to set a sturdy sail towards the target.
Both Mahela and Thirimanne exhibited excellent temperament under pressure and showed no mercy in dispatching the bad balls for runs. The partnership was eventually broken by Mohammad Talha in the 38th over when Mahela was caught on 75, but by then victory was well in sight of Sri Lanka.
Thirimanne lost another partner, Priyanjan, in the 42nd over before het put out an in swinging yorker off Junaed Khan to square leg in the next over to land his second ton in the tournament.
Thirimanne became Ajmal’s third victim with Sri Lanka on 247 for 5. The dismissal did not create any further drama as skipper Angelo Mathews hit the winning runs with three overs to spare.
Earlier, it was Malinga who gave the eventual winners the flying start in front of packed stands at SBNS. Malinga removed opener Sharjeel Khan in the opening over and the spearhead the in-form Ahmed Shahzad and Mohammed Hafeez in his following overs to reduce Pakistan to 18 for three.
Fawad Alam and Misbah-ul-Haq (65) repaired the damage by adding 122 runs which shifted the momentum and enabled Pakistan go for the late surge with wickets in hand. After Misbah’s dismissal Akmal played a quickfire 42-ball 59 while Fawad remained unbeaten on 114 off 134 to guide Pakistan to a challenging 260 for five.
Meanwhile it was Malinga who took all the five wickets and create a unique world record of claiming all five wickets in an innings of an ODI match.
