Mirpur: Sri Lankan captain Lasith Malinga took 4/26 to help Sri Lanka defend a moderate total and beat the United Arab Emirates by 14 runs in their Asia Cup T20 match on Thursday.
UAE raised a prospect of a shock by restricting Sri Lanka to 129 for 8, but the Malinga-led attack held the Emirates to 115-9.
Nuwan Kulasekara gave handy support to his new-ball partner by claiming 3 for 10. Earlier, UAE skipper Amjad decided to field after winning the toss. The teams played on a bare pitch, compared to the greener track used in the Bangladesh-India contest on Wednesday.
UAE fielded the same XI that took on Oman. Sri Lanka were boosted by the inclusion of regular T20 captain Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Rangana Herath and Nuwan Kulasekara after they missed the T20 series against India earlier this month. Sri Lanka picked allrounder Shehan Jayasuriya, while legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay did not find a place in the playing XI.
SCOREBOARD
Sri Lanka: D. Chandimal c Mohammad Shahzad b Amjad Javed 50, T. Dilshan c Muhammad Usman b Amjad Javed 27, TAM Siriwardana c Saqlain Haider b Amjad Javed 6, MD Shanaka c Shaiman Anwar b Mohammad Naveed 5, A. Mathews lbw b Rohan Mustafa 8, Jayasuriya b Mohammad Naveed 10, K Kapugedera c Ahmed Raza b Mohammad Shahzad 10, N. Kulasekara c Patil b Mohammad Shahzad 7, D Chameera (not out) 1. Extras (lb-1, w-4) 5. Total (for eight wickets in 20 overs) 129.
FoW: 1-68, 2-79, 3-89, 4-98, 5-105, 6-113, 7-123, 8-129. Bowling: Naveed 4-0-27-2, Qadeer 2-0-18-0, Javed 4-0-25-3, Shahzad 3-0-27-2, Raza 4-0-14-0, Mustafa 3-0-17-1.
UAE: Rohan Mustafa lbw b Malinga 0, Muhammad Kaleem c Mathews b Kulasekara 7, Mohammad Shahzad b Malinga 1, Muhammad Usman c Kapugedera b Kulasekara 6, Shaiman Anwar c Chandimal b Herath 13, S.P. Patil c & b Malinga 37, Saqlain Haider c Chandimal b Herath 1, Amjad Javed c Kapugedera b Kulasekara 13, Mohammad Naveed c Mathews b Malinga 10, Ahmed Raza (not out) 9 , Ahmed (not out) 2. Total (for nine wickets in 20 overs) 115.
FoW: 1-0, 2-7, 3-14, 4-16, 5-38, 6-47, 7-85, 8-93, 9-99.
Bowling: L. Malinga 4-0-26-4, K.M.D.N. Kulasekara 4-1-10-3, A.D. Mathews 3.4-0-24-0, H.M.R.K.B. Herath 4-0-22-2, P.V.D. Cham-eera 3.2-0-22-0, T.A.M. Siriwardana 1-0-8-0.
