Asia Cup 2008

Sri Lanka beat Pakistan easily in 2nd Super Four match

Today’s Asia Cup match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was an interesting one right from the word Go. The pitch was flat and a whole lot was being expected from the batsmen. A high scoring match was always on the cards as we saw Sri Lanka score a massive 302 runs in their allotted 50 overs followed by Pakistan who neither got a good start nor a good mid-innings partnership that they wanted. Sri Lanka won the match easily by 64 runs with virtually no threat from the Pakistan batting.

Scorecard

Although Sri Lanka lost Jayasuriya early, Sangakkara and Jayawardene gave them a decent start. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century and finished at 112 of just 110 balls, his innings including 10 fours and a six. Kapugedera and Silva both played good knocks to end in the 40s.  Pakistan conceded 23 extras which should be a great concern for them. The only friction to the Sri Lanka was from Tanvir, who ended his spell by taking 5 wickets and giving just 48 runs in his 10 overs.

Pakistan were in trouble right from the first ball when they lost Salman Butt for a duck. Malik and Younis Khan gave Pakistan a good base to carry forward their chase before they fell for 52 and 47 respectively. Misbah-ul-Haq was the only threat to Sri Lanka as he hit the ball all over the field to score a fast 76 of just 70 balls which included 3 fours and 4 sixes. However, having no support at the other end, Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals ending their innings at 238 for 9, losing the game by 64 runs. Mendis did most of the damage for Sri Lanka by taking 4 wickets followed by 2 wickets by Kulasekera. Afridi needs to do some batting practice as he has been out of form and was out today for a duck again. Pakistan need to go back to the drawing board as they need to fine tune their young side and get them to formulate good aprtnerships. They also need to discuss their game plans again as their chance of qualifying for the finals is now very dim.

All in all, it seems that India and Sri Lanka have a strong chance of getting through to the finals unless both Bangladesh and Pakistan give us some greta surprises in their forthcoming matches.

K Sangakkara was names Man of the Match.

Tags: 2008, Asia Cup, mendis, misbah-ul-haq, pakistan, Sangakkara, sohail tanvir, sri lanka, super four