Asia cup 2014 final

Asia cup 2014 final

   5:08 AM       slarde

---

Fawad ton powers Pakistan to 260

50 overs Pakistan 260 for 5 (Fawad 114*, Misbah 65, U Akmal 59, Malinga 5-56) v Sri Lanka
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	Fawad Alam made his maiden ODI hundred © AFP  Enlarge

From 3 down for 18, Fawad Alam masterminded an epic Pakistan recovery, elbowing his way through the early overs, punching past fifty through the middle, then soaring to triple figures in the final frenzy, as he led his team to 260 for 5 in the Asia Cup final. All five of those scalps, staggeringly, belonged to Lasith Malinga.

He had blown through the top three when Fawad and Misbah-ul-Haq were joined, and their astute 122-run stand, blessed occasionally by good fortune, prepared the floor for a frenetic finish. Umar Akmal struck a 42-ball 59, and Shahid Afridi, in stratospheric form, wasn't even required to face a ball. Fawad finished on 114 not out from 134 balls.

Fawad was dropped twice and Misbah was granted a life by the umpire in the rousing partnership, but having left out the tournament's most penetrative bowler in Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lanka's attack was largely earnest, not menacing. For the first time in the tournament, they also seemed somewhat vulnerable at the death, conceding 101 runs from the last 10 overs, 49 of which came from the last four.

After Misbah chose to bat, Sharjeel Khan shook off a knee complaint, walked to the middle, smote two spiffing off side boundaries, then promptly chipped a swinging Malinga delivery to mid on. Malinga has not recently been a penetrative force, but he has often been a man for the big occasion. He continued to move the ball away from the right-handers through his first spell and had Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez edging behind in quick succession. Shehzad had aimed a punch off the back foot, Hafeez merely hung his bat out.

Spin had constricted batsmen throughout the tournament, but Pakistan were relieved at its arrival in this match, scoring more freely off Sachithra Senanayake's early overs than they had off the seamers. Sri Lanka's decision to leave Mendis out in favour of Suranga Lakmal had caused surprise at the toss, but perhaps it was motivated by a perception that Pakistan had also decoded Mendis in the past, which explains why Senanayake was preferred.

Lakmal delivered an impeccable first spell, populated largely by seaming length balls outside the off stump which neither Misbah nor Fawad wished to flirt with. His five overs conceded just ten, helping leash the Pakistan run-rate to less than three until the 22nd over.

Misbah took stately, dignified singles as the collapse was arrested, while Fawad poked and pilfered them. The senior man was not above holding his ground when the umpire failed to spot an edge off his blade on 19, however. He threw his head back and smiled at his fortune as the bowler Angelo Mathews and the wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara glared on. Misbah had been similarly reprieved in the teams' round-robin match.

Misbah reached 50 first, sweeping Chaturanga de Silva powerfully to the boundary twice in the 31st over before Fawad cleared his leg and walloped a six of his own over long-on off Thisara Perera. Fawad had been dropped off Lakmal in the previous over, but the chance had been a particularly difficult one for a diving Sangakkara.

The pair looked ominous in the first over of the Powerplay, from which they plundered 13, but Misbah would fall to Malinga soon after, inspiring a brief return to caution from Fawad. Umar Akmal blasted successive boundaries in the 41st over off Perera to set Pakistan's charge in motion once more, and this time, Fawad joined him in earnest. He was 67 from 106 before another six over long-on began the sequence that would bring him 47 off the next 28. Fawad was dropped again on 92, as de Silva parried a chance over his head at cover off Malinga, and would move to triple figures for the first time in ODIs with an aerial whip over deep midwicket in the 48th over.

Akmal smashed three fours off Malinga in the 47th over, before cleaving Lakmal twice through the off side to earn his own half-century. He fell to a slower ball in the final over, top-edging a slog, as Malinga finished on 5 for 56
.source:cricinfo