DHAKA: Sri Lanka edged the UAE by 14 runs in their Asia Cup T20 match at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, on Thursday.
Asked to bat first, Sri Lanka scored a below par 129 for eight in their 20 overs, but managed to defend it with skipper Lasith Malinga taking four wickets for 26.
At the innings break, the UAE would have had hopes of a fourth straight win in the tournament, but those hopes were snuffed out in the first over as Malinga struck twice to wreck UAE’s chase. The 129 for eight was one run less than what the UAE captain Amjad Javed had said he wanted to restrict his opponents to, after he decided to field.
But their batsmen were not as inspired as their bowlers and were shut out for 115 for 9 in 20 overs. Malinga, playing in his first competitive match since November 2015, trapped Rohan Mustafa leg-before off the first ball of the chase with a fast, straight and full ball that was only destined to hit the stumps.
Off the last ball of the first over, Mohammad Shahzad was duped by a 113.7 kph slower ball, and was bowled for 1.
Nuwan Kulasekara got into the act, too, removing Muhammad Kaleem and Muhammad Usman in the fourth over. Kaleem lofted one needlessly to mid-off before Usman’s uncharacteristic slog ended in a simple catch to Chamara Kapugedara at first slip. The UAE finished the fourth over at 16 for 4.
Shaiman Anwar counter-attacked in the next over, striking Angelo Mathews for fours through midwicket before Swapnil Patil played a pull off Mathews for a beautiful six over the same region.
The UAE, however, had more bad news around the corner. Rangana Herath, playing his first T20 International since the 2014 World T20, removed the UAE’s last hope, Anwar, with an arm ball that took a thin outside edge on its way to the keeper.
Herath removed Saqlain Haider in his next over, reducing UAE to 47 for six at the halfway mark of their innings.
But Patil held firm, hitting Herath for a six, playing a late cut off Milinda Siriwardana for a boundary and taking two fours off Dushmantha Chameera in the 15th over to bring the equation to 53 off the last five overs.
Patil kept trying to find the boundaries but he, too, fell to a Malinga slower ball, giving the bowler a simple return catch. Patil scored 37 off 36 balls with three fours and two sixes. He added 38 runs for the seventh wicket with Javed, who scored 13 off 18 balls. Malinga completed his four-wicket haul when he removed Mohammad Naveed in his last over. Kulasekara took three wickets, while Herath finished with two.
The first half of the game, however, was an altogether different picture as Javed took three wickets and Mohammad Naveed and Mohammad Shahzad picked two each. Rohan Mustafa took one wicket as Sri Lanka slumped after a strong start from Chandimal (50 off 39) and Dilshan (27 off 28).
Score board
Score Board
UAE won toss
Sri Lanka
†L D Chandimal c Shahzad b Amjad 50
T M Dilshan c Usman b Amjad 27
T A M Siriwardana c Saqlain b Amjad 6
M D Shanaka c Shaiman b Naveed 5
A D Mathews lbw b Rohan 8
D S N F G Jayasuriya b Naveed 10
C K Kapugedera c Raza b Shahzad 10
K M D N Kulasekara c Patil b Shahzad 7
P V D Chameera not out 1
Extras (lb 1, w 4) 5
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 129
Did not bat: H M R K B Herath, *S L Malinga
Fall: 1-68, 2-79, 3-89, 4-98, 5-105, 6-113, 7-123, 8-129
Bowling: Naveed 4-0-27-2(1w); Qadeer 2-0-18-0; Amjad 4-0-25-3(1w); Shahzad 3-0-27-2; Raza 4-0-14-0(1w); Rohan 3-0-17-1(1w)
UAE
Rohan Mustafa lbw b Malinga 0
Mohammad Kaleem c Mathews b Kulasekara 7
Mohammad Shahzad b Malinga 1
Mohammad Usman c Kapugedera b Kulasekara 6
Shaiman Anwar c Chandimal b Herath 13
†SP Patil c & b Malinga 37
Saqlain Haider c Chandimal b Herath 1
*Amjad Javed c Kapugedera b Kulasekara 13
Mohammad Naveed c Mathews b Malinga 10
Ahmed Raza not out 9
Qadeer Ahmed not out 2
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 6, nb 7) 16
Total (9 wickets; 20 overs) 115
Fall: 1-0, 2-7, 3-14, 4-16, 5-38, 6-47, 7-85, 8-93, 9-99
Bowling: Malinga 4-0-26-4(1nb, 3w); Kulasekara 4-1-10-3(1w); Mathews 3.4-0-24-0(1w); Herath 4-0-22-2; Chameera 3.2-0-22-0(2nb, 1w); Siriwardana 1-0-8-0
Result: Sri Lanka won by 14 runs
Man of the Match: S L Malinga (Sri Lanka)
Points: Sri Lanka 2, UAE 0
Umpires: A K Chaudhary (India) and Sharfuddoula. TV umpire: Anisur Rahman. Match referee: R B Richardson (West Indies)