INDIA VS SRI LANKA FINAL

SRI LANKA WON BY 100 RUNS

Sri Lanks atlast succeeded to save her Asia Cup Trophy.They got victory by 100 runs.Thanks God that Dohni had not called spectators from India otherwise the after affects are known to every one.Indian batting flopped against Sri Lankan bowler Ajantha Mendis.The highest scorer from Sri lanka was as usual JAYASURIYA.He played 125 runs with 5 sixes and 9fours all over the ground.Sehwag on the other side was the highest scores with 60 runs as compared to Jayasuriya's 125.

According to cricinfo the match summary is as follows:
Sanath Jayasuriya scored a magnificent 189 before Sri Lanka's bowlers sent India tumbling to 54 all out, and a humiliating 245-run defeat. At Karachi's National Stadium, Jayasuriya, now 39, smashed another superb century before Ajantha Mendis, the mystery spinner still classed as a slow-medium bowler, bamboozled a highly rated batting line-up to finish with astonishing figures of 6 for 13.

Virender Sehwag's blistering early onslaught was rendered irrelevant as Sri Lanka stormed to a 100-run victory, retaining the Asia Cup and extending India's miserable record in tournament finals.

With Sehwag hammering an exhilarating 60 from just 35 balls, India had romped to 76 from just nine overs. Muttiah Muralitharan prefers not to bowl during the Powerplays, and it was to Mendis, who the Indians had never faced before, that Mahela Jayawardene turned as he sought to staunch the flow of runs.

Even he couldn't have predicted the impact that Mendis would have. Like a combine harvester scything through a field of corn, Mendis sliced through a line-up that has quite a reputation when it comes to playing spin. Sehwag charged his second delivery and watched helplessly as it drifted away from him. Kumar Sangakkara did the rest. Two balls later, Yuvraj Singh was utterly befuddled by one that skidded on. Suddenly, 274 appeared a long way away.

That Sri Lanka got anywhere near that was down to a man who refuses to bow to Father Time. India picked up four wickets in the first 12 overs, with Ishant claiming three of them, but Jayasuriya's 114-ball 125, and a 131-run partnership with Tillakaratne Dilshan utterly changed the complexion of the game.

It's perhaps no coincidence that India haven't won the Asia Cup since Jayasuriya became a regular at the top of the Sri Lankan order, and his mastery over the opposition was best revealed in the 16th over, bowled by RP Singh. RP had managed to escape relatively unscathed in his opening spell, conceding 24 from five overs, but when he returned, Jayasuriya took to him like a bull that had been riled by the matador's cape.

Sixes on either side of the sightscreen were followed by two wallops over cover, and after a one-ball lull, he pulled one over midwicket for six more. With Dilshan then taking three successive fours off Irfan Pathan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had no option but to turn to spin, with Pragyan Ojha and Virender Sehwag managing to have something of a fire-extinguishing effect.

India had started poorly, with RP conceding two boundaries to fine leg in the opening over, but a mix-up between two experienced hands gave them the opening they so desperately needed. Jayasuriya tapped one to short mid-off, and Sangakkara had already hared halfway down the pitch before he realised the striker had no interest in a single. Suresh Raina's underarm flick was the ultimate punishment.

But with two maiden overs bowled in the first five, India wrested back a measure of control, despite Jayasuriya's sporadic bursts of aggression. With the pressure building, it was Ishant who struck, as Jayawardene slapped one straight to Rohit at point. No bother for Jayasuriya though. A swivel pull sent an Ishant delivery for six, and Pathan's introduction was greeted with three fours in the over.

The problem was at the other end, where Ishant was wreaking havoc with the extra bounce he extracted from a comatose pitch. Bounce and a hint of lateral movement had Chamara Kapugedera playing one off the leading edge to point, and two balls later, the other Chamara - Silva - inside-edged one back on to the stumps.

Jayasuriya's version of consolidation involved a pull for six off Ishant and a slice of luck as a as a miscue off Pathan evaded RP, who ran around in circles and failed to get his hands to the ball. Dilshan contributed only four to the first 50 the pair added, from 30 balls, but he did his part, turning the strike over to allow Jayasuriya to inflict maximum damage.

With Sehwag and Ojha - Rohit contributed three tidy overs too - taking the pace off the ball, it was a different story. With the field spread, the boundaries dried up and the runs came mainly in singles. India missed a couple of run-out opportunities and Dhoni put down a sharp chance offered by Dilshan when he was on 37, but the helter-skelter pace of the Powerplay overs soon gave way to relative calm.

Eventually, the lack of action got to Jayasuriya and a flat slog-sweep off Sehwag only found Ishant at deep midwicket. After that, Sri Lanka lost their way. Dilshan eased to 50 from 68 balls, but when Pathan returned to bowl round the wicket, he popped a catch to Dhoni. Vaas, back in the fray after missing the last game, square-drove Ishant for the first four in more than 20 overs, but was castled by RP soon after.

Nuwan Kulasekara flailed the bat to finish with an unbeaten 29, but a target of 274 was expected to be well within reach for an Indian side that had included seven specialist batsmen. But after his extraordinary first over, Mendis soon set about making a mockery of the predictions.

PAKISTAN OUT OF FINAL

PAK AND FINAL

Pakistan has lost her chance to play the final.It was whether the hard luck or the lack of team spirit or both.Pakistan made success in her crucial and important match against india.But the compulsion was that "Sirilanka to beat Indai" and that never happened.India got succcess in the last match against Sirilanka.And that resulted Pakistan out of Final.Sirilanka AND India will be playing thier final at National Stadium Karachi on sunday.

Inconsistency survives against inexperience

We weren't as bad as that," Shoaib Malik, Pakistan's captain, said after a scrappy but ultimately comfortable win over Hong Kong. "You forgot my 35?" If it has come to valuing 35s against Hong Kong and not being too concerned at a collapse that left them 161 for 7, then clearly something, somewhere is not quite right.

At worst, Pakistan were poor and at best just complacent, nowhere more than in their top order. It is not a weak batting line-up, but falling for under 200 against India in the Kitply Cup, then scoring over 300 against them in the next game and then imploding today screams out a basic inconsistency.

"You cannot underestimate anyone in cricket. We made mistakes today in our batting but we want to rectify them," Malik said. "It happens in cricket often and sometimes your lower order should be tested."

This cannot be argued with, except it seems to happen more often to Pakistan and that the lower order should really be tested against more testing opposition. Fawad Alam and Sohail Tanvir will cherish their maiden ODI fifties, though their top order will do so more. Their 100-run stand for the eighth wicket was a Asia Cup record, but more importantly rescued Pakistan from an Ireland-style embarrassment.

Malik insisted, however, that a promotion up the order for Tanvir - as in the Indian Premier League - wasn't immediately on the cards. "Fawad and Sohail's batting was a really good sign for us. Sohail is fine in that position. We needed him in the lower order today, but we might see for later matches."

Malik himself moved up the order, to open alongside Salman Butt in yet another combination. As with the last time the pair opened together, Butt went without scoring, but Malik's broader role in the team will come under increasing scrutiny in coming days. The opening pair is partly a problem because of Malik's insistence on having six bowling options, which is in itself a result of his increasing unwillingness to fill in as a bowler. Thus his role as bowler is unclear, as is his position in the batting order.

"Opening is a problem for us, but we'll see," Malik said. "We can experiment in our first two games. We need a sixth bowler definitely, someone who can get through 4-5 overs. My hope is that I do well as opener but we also have Afridi as an option."

Hong Kong could've done with some more bowling options, to back up the admirable Nadeem Ahmed. His four wickets proved again that whatever the nationality, if there is left-arm spin, success is guaranteed against Pakistan. They also could've done with perhaps bowling Nadeem right through his ten overs, instead of taking him off after only seven. Pakistan were wobbling and another wicket would've sealed it.

"Nadeem bowled really well," Tabarak Dar, their captain, said. "But it's a 50-over game and we wanted to use other bowlers as well, to give him a break. One more wicket and Pakistan would really have struggled. We could've gotten them for under 200."

Tabarak was more concerned about the fitness levels of his mostly amateur side. Zain Abbas suffered from cramps twice during his stay, before retiring hurt, though he should be fit for Wednesday's game against India. "We won a few sessions with them, but we need to really work on and improve our fitness. There are positives from this game - our spinners bowled really well. But we need to work on batting through 50 overs. We were tired and we need to work on that."

It will take them time to improve, which fortunately they have. For Pakistan - who face India on Thursday - no such luxury exists.

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo.

SOURCE:http://content-www.cricinfo.com/asiacup/content/story/356113.html

Pakistan search for a right combination

An unstable part of Pakistan's team - their opening combination - has become more uncertain with the dropping of Kamran Akmal, who has partnered Salman Butt in recent matches. Sarfraz, Akmal's replacement, is no opener and, though his batting skills may not match Akmal's, his role of lower-order batsman is secondary to his primary job of keeping wicket.

Hong Kong, on the other hand, will use this match against Pakistan, and the next against India, to get a feel of what it's like to mix with the big boys. They will use this platform as prep for their next tournament, the Asian Cricket Council Trophy, where they compete against opposition of more or less equal strength. Their last one-day internationals were in the 2004 Asia Cup, when they lost to Pakistan and Bangladesh by a margin of more than 100 runs.