Get Ball by Ball Commentary of Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Asia Cup 2014, 1st Match

10.15 pm A nail-biter to start a tournament off, what more can we ask for? Well, in case you are that greedy, India meet hosts Bangladesh tomorrow so do join us then. But for now, this is goodbye from Alagappan Muthu

Lasith Malinga is the Man of the Match "At the moment, not much good rhythm. Really happy to take the five wickets. Last two games and the first half of the game, didn't bowl too well. But I used my variations and at the end we won the game. Not much dew today and I concentrated on my variations, slower balls, bouncers and at the end of the day, very happy we won the game"

"I still think we were 20 runs short considering the start Thirimanne and Sangakkara gave us," says Angelo Mathews. But in the past we've won these close games and it was good to come out on top again. He is a great team man and he will get you runs anywhere. Malinga is the best bowler for us and has been in the past few years. Whenever we are under pressure he is our go to man and he did it again. [Did he underbowl?] Well, maybe I'll try to bowl more"

10.10 pm "I think Umar [Akmal] batted really well, that was a crucial partnership. At that time we had six wickets in hand and we should have won this game," says Misbah ul Haq, "He played a really sensible knock today but played a rash shot and could not finish it. After the start they got, it was a really good effort to restrict them to 296. The way the pitch was playing, no turn nothing for the fast bowler. This should have been chased. I'm trying, there's nothing better for a batsman than scoring runs and I hope I can do that more often"

10.00 pm What a turnaround from the Sri Lankan spearhead, he was seven overs for no wickets but in his last 14 balls, he's turned Pakistan's chase the wrong way all by himself. Before that though, Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal looked set to win this by a canter. Until both batsmen lost their heads. That was the opening Sri Lanka needed and they just burst through. Join us in a few minutes for the presentation

"It was pretty Intense," says Kumar Sangakkara "We were under the pump for the greater part of the match, probably our own fault. We were 15-20 short and gave away too many loose balls. But in the end, Malinga the champion showed us just how good he is and Chaturanga de Silva, the debutant did well too with the ball and in the field. Bit more pace on the ball for Bhatti to hit in the latter overs, should have used the change up more. So lots of areas to improve and looking forward to do some training. We had cover for the last over. Thisara was there, Sachithra had an over and we had Lakmal too. But the key over was Malinga's and he did it for us. [Pakistan pulling Sri Lanka back in the latter overs of their batting] That's the way the game goes, they bowled really well, but Ange [Mathews] again, fifty not out to guide us towards 300"

Chirala Roop Ku: "2.5-0-11-5, this is called MALINGA LAW" 250 wickets in ODIs as well for the champion

Nasir: "Exactly why pakistan cricket has stalled in past 5-6 years. Poor decision making, poor shot selection and we still persist with them. Umar Akmal is a talent who will never realize how good he was. Afridi (no comments)"

kapil utvani: "@salmanov amjad : bhatti became a national hero..... .. ..of sri lanka :P"

48.5

Malinga to Bilawal Bhatti, OUT, five-for for Malinga as he uproots the off stump. Sri Lanka win! Bhatti was making extravagant room outside off and Malinga saw red. Hurled the yorker at the stumps and beats Bhatti's intended carve over the off side. Terrible ploy considering they still had an over left and Malinga was the main threat.

Bilawal Bhatti b Malinga 18 (27m 13b 2x4 0x6) SR: 138.46

48.4

Malinga to Bilawal Bhatti, 2 runs, low full toss on leg stump and he clips it away to long leg. Oh, he's taking on the fielder's throw and he makes it! Gee, this guy's fast! Two valuable runs

deep square leg comes up, deep midwicket comes up. Point goes out and so has fine leg. Long-on is also in place. No wait, deep midwicket goes back and up comes point

Salmanov Amjad: "Time for Bhatti to become a national hero... "

48.3

Malinga to Junaid Khan, 1 run, another leg-stump yorker, but this one is eased to deep square leg. Nicely struck too, but Bhatti is happy with the single. He is the more established batsman

Junaid Khan is the last man in

48.2

Malinga to Saeed Ajmal, OUT, full and straight and he traps Ajmal in front. That's his fourth and this is the best of the lot. An indipping yorker on leg stump sneaks under the Ajmal's flicking bat and that might just have crashed into leg stump

Saeed Ajmal lbw b Malinga 10 (9m 4b 2x4 0x6) SR: 250.00

All four fielders inside the circle are on the leg side

48.1

Malinga to Bilawal Bhatti, 1 run, slower ball from Malinga at 116 kph, Bhatti heaves it in the air to deep square leg. Falls short of the man though

A very manageable 17 off 12 now

Ziad Hyder: "No need to play rash against Malinga in this over, just take singles and get the runs needed to single digits for the last over....it should be a home stretch from there..."

END OF OVER:
48 | 17 Runs | PAK: 280/8 (17 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 5.83, RRR: 8.50)

Saeed Ajmal10 (3b)
Bilawal Bhatti15 (10b)

Suranga Lakmal9-1-65-2
Lasith Malinga9-0-48-3

47.6

Lakmal to Saeed Ajmal, FOUR, edged to the third man boundary and Ajmal has a giant smile on his face, 17 runs off that over and Pakistan are right back in it. It was short, it was wide and it had pace on it. That was all he needed as he threw is bat at it

47.5

Lakmal to Saeed Ajmal, FOUR, goes for the lap sweep, but this was way outside off stump and his eyes were anywhere but on the ball. Still he manages an edge that goes skyward and goes one bounce to the fine leg boundary

47.4

Lakmal to Saeed Ajmal, 2 runs, Ajmal gets into the act and he pulls and evades a desperately diving short midwicket! Pace on the ball seems to be working for Pakistan

47.3

Lakmal to Bilawal Bhatti, 1 run, thumped to mid-off as this length ball was just a bit outside off stump. Would have wanted to do much more than that

47.2

Lakmal to Bilawal Bhatti, 2 runs, short ball on middle, clears his front leg and slaps it wide of mid-on. Two for the taking. Bhatti's playing a little gem here

Malinga has a bit of advice for Lakmal

47.1

Lakmal to Bilawal Bhatti, FOUR, what a shot under pressure! He has smoked it through the covers! Overpitched outside off and he takes his front foot out of the way and unleashes

34 off 18, with only two wickets in hand

END OF OVER:
47 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | PAK: 263/8 (34 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 5.59, RRR: 11.33)

Bilawal Bhatti8 (7b)
Saeed Ajmal0 (0b)

Lasith Malinga9-0-48-3
Thisara Perera6-0-36-0

rajasahadevan: "@Imran Seriously bro, How do you keep calm and believe when Malinga bowling at Tailenders??"

46.6

Malinga to Bilawal Bhatti, 1 run, slower offcutter outside off, Bhatti is forward and pushes into the covers to retain strike. It's all on him now

Sayf: "As the famous old proverb goes, "there is 3 things guaranteed in life: death, taxes and Pakistani batting collapses"."

46.5

Malinga to Umar Gul, OUT, leading edge and it is caught at point! Three for Malinga and all he had to do here was keep it tight on middle. Gul was looking for the flick through square leg. Was into the shot too early and skies it towards point where Chaturanga de Silva just about holds on. Oh, Pakistan...

Umar Gul c de Silva b Malinga 2 (9m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33

46.4

Malinga to Umar Gul, no run, slower ball and it was a bit short outside off too. Gul though can only carve it as far as point. These slower ones are ending up as dot balls more often than not!

46.3

Malinga to Umar Gul, no run, swings right across the line to a fuller delivery that keeps quite low. Misses the stumps and almost eludes the keeper, but Sanga does well enough

46.2

Malinga to Bilawal Bhatti, 1 run, opens the face and slices this back of a length delivery to deep point

46.1

Malinga to Umar Gul, 1 run, offcutter on the stumps, can only be defended into the covers. They hustle through for a single

Imran: "@Faizan... "why U19 boys? keep calm and believe in this Pair""

END OF OVER:
46 | 6 Runs | PAK: 260/7 (37 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 5.65, RRR: 9.25)

Bilawal Bhatti6 (5b)
Umar Gul1 (2b)

Thisara Perera6-0-36-0
Lasith Malinga8-0-45-2

Rajendra: "How to gift wrap and give the match ... New book authored by Misbah" So none of the other batsmen deserve blame?

45.6

NLTC Perera to Bilawal Bhatti, no run, slower and shorter on off stump, Bhatti was off balance as he is deceived. Can only hit to cover

45.5

NLTC Perera to Umar Gul, 1 run, length ball on middle, stays a touch low but he heaves it away to midwicket

45.4

NLTC Perera to Umar Gul, no run, change of pace again as this is on off stump. Back of the hand slower ball

45.3

NLTC Perera to Bilawal Bhatti, 1 run, back-of-the-hand slower delivery on middle and leg, Bhatti tucks it behind square leg

45.2

NLTC Perera to Bilawal Bhatti, FOUR, length ball lofted over mid-off! Bhatti says this is not over yet! Makes some room for himself and powers this over the fielder inside the circle and this is a very quick outfield

Team	M	W	L	PT	NRR
SL	4	4	0	17	0.773
PAK	4	3	1	13	0.349
IND	4	2	2	9	0.45
AFG	4	1	3	4	-1.278
BAN	4	0	4	0	-0.259

END OF OVER:
48 | 17 Runs | PAK: 280/8 (17 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 5.83, RRR: 8.50)

END OF OVER:
47 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | PAK: 263/8 (34 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 5.59, RRR: 11.33)

END OF OVER:
46 | 6 Runs | PAK: 260/7 (37 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 5.65, RRR: 9.25)

Malinga's numbers

Stat alert

Stat alert

Misbah v SL

Close call

Consistent Misbah

A first for de Silva

Stat alert

Stat alert

Rare innings for Hafeez

Mahela's landmark

Stat alert

Afridi v Sangakkara

Thirimanne's fifty

Asia Cup (ODI)

END OF OVER:48 | 17 Runs | PAK: 280/8 (17 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 5.83, RRR: 8.50)

END OF OVER:47 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | PAK: 263/8 (34 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 5.59, RRR: 11.33)

END OF OVER:46 | 6 Runs | PAK: 260/7 (37 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 5.65, RRR: 9.25)

END OF OVER:
48 | 17 Runs | PAK: 280/8 (17 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 5.83, RRR: 8.50)

END OF OVER:
47 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | PAK: 263/8 (34 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 5.59, RRR: 11.33)

END OF OVER:
46 | 6 Runs | PAK: 260/7 (37 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 5.65, RRR: 9.25)