Sri Lanka gets better of Pakistan in the final of the Asia Cup to lift the trophy. The Lankans rode Thirmanne’s ton to overcome the challenging total put up by the Pakistanis losing only 5 wickets. Malinga was awarded the Man-of-the-match trophy for his brilliant piece of bowling. Thirimanne’s got the player of the series award for his consistent show with the bat at the top of the order.
Coming into the match Pakistan played well to put up a total of 260/5 in their full quota of 50 overs, thanks to Fawad Alam’s maiden international century, well supported by ever dependable Misbah-ul-Haq’s fighting 65. Had Fawad Alam not played such a great knock of 114 under pressure it would have been quite impossible for Pakistan to set a total above 250 since Malinga had caught the Pakistanis on the back-foot giving them a jolt very early picking up 3 wickets with the scoreboard reading only 18. Umar Akmal also played an important role in setting up the challenging total as he scored a 42-ball 59 later in the innings. Lasith Malinga was the pick of the bowlers turning up with match figures of 10-0-56-5.
Coming on to bat Sri Lanka made a good start with the openers putting up a solid partnership-just the kind of start Sri Lanka needed to seize control of the match. But 2 quick wickets, that too of hard-hitting Kusal Perera and captain Kumar Sangakkara in the first ball, by Saeed Ajmal brought the defending champions back into contention. However it was Thirimanne and Jayawardene’s partnership of 156 runs that put the Pakistanis out of the match. Thirimanne scored 101 while Jayawardene scored 75. None of the Pak bowlers looked like getting any one of them out before they eventually got out.
Tags: Asia Cup Asia Cup 2014 Asia Cup final Fawad Alam Jayawardene Kumar Sangakkara Lasith Malinga Misbah Ul Haq Pakistan Saeed Ajmal Thirimanne Sri Lanka Sri Lanka beat Pakistan Sri Lanka wins Asia Cup
