Asia Cup: Sri Lanka draw first blood

The battle for supremacy in the subcontinent kicked off in a great fashion at Dambulla, Srilanka in the 1^st ODI of the 10^th edition of Asia Cup. Four time champion Sri Lanka started their campaign with an emphatic win against Pakistan in a contest where control swung like a pendulum from one team to the other. But finally it was host Srilanka who overcame a brilliant century by captain Shahid Afridi and a magnificent comeback of ever controvercial Shoiab Akhtar to set up a 16 run victory.

Batting first Srilanka scored a decent total of 242 on a pitch which was two paced and ball was not coming on to the bat. Srilanka were reduced for 168-7 but a good knock of 55* down the order from Angelo Mathews helped Srilanka to a defendable score. This match marked the return of Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar to international cricket after more than an year. Shoaib was impressive in his bowling finishing with figures of 3-41 in his 10 overs with a maximum speed of 148 kmph. Still he lacked some fitness and was struggling with his run up.

Chasing a target of 243, Pakistan had a very poor start with Butt cleaned up by a trademark Malinga delivery. The arrived the two newcomers Shahzaib Hasan and Umar Amin who were completely out of place and were dismissed cheaply. Soon Pakistan were reeling at 32-4. Afridi then promoted himself and played one of the finest innings of his career thrashing the Sri Lankan attack, being especially harsh on legendary Muttiah Muralidharan. He got good support first from Umar and later Kamran Akmal before the brothers were unfortunately runout. But, Afridi continued in his own way, blasting his way to his 5^th ODI hundred of just 65 balls with 8 fours and 7 towering sixes. But, as it was looking as if the Pakistani skipper would drive Pak home, Muttiah came back to pick up his wicket. Though Murali picked up the wicket of the skipper, man of the moment was Lasith Malinga who picked up last 3 wickets in back to back overs with two trademark yorkers to dismiss Aamer and Asif and a slower delivery to dismiss Akhtar. Abdul Razzaq remained stranded at the non striker’s end watching his team go down.

Malinga was adjudged man of the match for his five wicket haul (5-34).

Match Summary :

Sri Lanka 242 for 9 (Mathews 55*, Jayawardene 54, Shoaib 3-41)

Pakistan 226 (Afridi 109, Malinga 5-34)

Pakistan next face India on 19^th with a lot to play. India open their campaign today against Bangladesh. With the seniors back in the team, India will be looking to regain their lost pride and break 15 year long jinx.