Akmal, Misbah, Cheema guide Pakistan into Asia Cup final

Pakistan overcame the Srilankan challenge to book their berth in the finals of the 2012 Asia Cup. Srilanka needed to win this game in order to stay alive while Pakistan knew that a win would release their nerves ahead of an all-important India game on Sunday,
March 18.

Srilanka made one change to their team in the form of Lasith Malinga at the expense of Chamara Kapugedera. Pakistan added Hammad Azam in place of Asad Shafiq.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Srilanka compiled 188 which was definitely a below-par score on a placid looking Mirpur track. Aizaz Cheema started the Lankan rout with his opening two wickets in the form of Mahela Jatawardena and Tillikaratne
Dilshan. Both men got Srilanka off to a flying start but once again were unable to capitalise as the Blue side were reduced to 43-2.

It soon became 47/3 when Dinesh Chandimal was picked up by Younis Khan in the slips for no score off Umar Gull. Lahiru Thirimanne came under pressure and offered a simple chance to Umar Akmal at point, leaving the Lankans stranded at 65/4. Kumar Sangakkara
and Upul Tharanga added 96 for the fifth wicket before the latter fell to Saeed Ajmal for 57.

 Farveez Maharoof was unable to pick Ajmal’s doosra as he skied a simple chance to Misbah-ul-Haq at mid-wicket. He made 2. Nuwan Kulasekara failed to reveal his magic with the bat and was caught behind off Gul for 4. Sangakkara’s resistance finally came
to an end when he inside edged a delivery from Cheema for 71, leaving Srilanka at 182/8.

Malinga and Suranga Lakmal added just six runs for the remaining two wickets as the recently concluded CB series finalists got bundled for 188. Cheema picked up 4/43, Ajmal 3/27, Gul 2/20 while Azam picked up one wicket.

Pakistan, in reply, made a mockery of their chase as they are used to doing it and lost first three wickets for 33 runs. Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed made quite a sedate start and Pakistan only managed 33 runs in the first 12 overs.

Umar Akmal and skipper, Misbah took some time to steady the ship but once the duo got set, it was all over for the Lankans. Akmal, for the first time in the last one-month showed some signs of maturity and made a sensational 77 off 72 balls which included
seven fours and two crisp sixes.

In the end, Misbah remained not-out with 72 off 93 balls while Azam made 4 off 5 balls to lead the Green Shirts to a win with a bonus point. Cheema was declared the Man of the Match.

Pakistan will next be in action against India on Sunday while Srilanka will play Bangladesh on Tuesday, March 20 before the final on Thursday, March 22.

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Posted by Taha Habib on Mar 16 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry