Malinga sets up Lanka win over UAE

MIRPUR: The United Arab Emirates (UAE), who had won all three of their qualifying matches in the ongoing Asia Cup, had walked into the main draw with ample confidence. But they were given a reality check by the reigning World T20 champions Sri Lanka who beat them by 14 runs at the Shere-Bangla National Stadium here on Thursday night.
Sri Lanka performed ordinarily with the bat, putting up a modest 129-8 on board, but more than made up for it with the ball in the second half of the contest.Skipper Lasith Malinga (4-26) and fellow pacer Nuwan Kulasekara (3-10) did enough damage upfront to dent UAE's chase which never quite took off.
UAE began disastrously, slipping to seven for two in the first over as Malinga proved too hot to handle for them. He first trapped opener Rohan Mustafa (0) leg-before off the first ball of the innings. Five deliveries later, `Slinga' cleaned up UAE's No. 3 Mohammad Shahzad (1).
Muhammad Kaleem (7) was dropped by Milinda Siriwardana at first slip off Kulasekara in the subsequent over, but that miss didn't cost Sri Lanka much. The situation went from bad to worse For UAE and they were staring down the barrel at 16-4 in 3.5 overs.
Swapnil Patil (37, 3x4, 2x6) was the only UAE batsman to create some impact as he struck some lusty blows. Once he was dismissed, caught-and-bowled by Malinga in the 17th over, UAE's chase pretty much ended as they finished at 115 for 9 in their 20 overs.
Dushmantha Chameera (0-22), who bowled two successive beamers in the final over of the game, was taken off the attack and Angelo Mathews (0-24) was called in to complete the quota.
Earlier in the day, UAE won the toss and chose to field first on a wicket that provided ample assistance to the bowlers. A majority of their batsmen were dismissed for singledigit scores, but openers Dinesh Chandimal (50, 7x4, 1x6) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (27, 4x4) were the leading lights as they added 68 in 9.1 overs before UAE got rid of the latter.