Sri Lanka was restricted to 129 for eight but the total proved beyond UAE’s reach in their Asia Cup encounter at the Shere Bangla Stadium here on Thursday.

Opting to bowl, the UAE bowlers were at the receiving end of a Sri Lankan onslaught in the first few overs as the openers Dinesh Chandimal and Tillakaratne Dilshan piled up 68 in nine overs.

In the 10th over, the dismissal of Dilshan, who was caught by Muhammad Usman off Amjad Javed, triggered a collapse.

Holding firm

Though Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals, Chandimal held firm to score a half-century (50, 39b, 7x4, 1x6) before falling to Javed.

From 89 for three in the 14th over, the Sri Lankans never got going and finished at 129 for eight.

In reply, UAE started disastrously with Sri Lankan captain Lasith Malinga removing Rohan Mustafa off the very first ball, trapping the opener in front.

Joining the party

Malinga also sent back Mohammad Shahzad for one in the same over to leave UAE seven for two. Nuwan Kulasekara joined the party, taking the wickets of opener Muhammad Kaleem (7) and Muhammad Usman in the fourth over.

Except for a brief cameo by Swapnil Patil who scored 37 off 36 balls (3x4, 2x6), UAE was never in the hunt.

(The Hindu)