Asia Cup: Sri Lanka beat UAE by 14 runs

Sri Lanka would have been disappointed to go from 68/0 in the first 9 overs to 129/8 in their 20 overs. At the halfway stage, needing 130 to win, UAE looked on course for an upset victory but two wickets in Lasith Malinga's first over threw a spanner in the works of that and they never really recovered from that. All of Sri Lanka's returning bowlers picked up wickets as the top-order failed to rotate strike and continued to go for big hits. In the end, despite a valiant effort from Swapnil Patel, they fell well short and they will have to do it all over again tomorrow when they face Bangladesh in their second match.

19.6 Mathews to Raza, 1 run, another length ball but hit straight to the fielder at cover and Sri Lanka have won by 14 runs.

16 needed of the last ball.

19.5 Mathews to Raza, 2 runs, slapped down to long on for a couple.

18 needed off last two balls.

19.4 Mathews to Qadeer, 1 bye, swing and a miss but they sneak a bye.

19.3 Mathews to Raza, 1 run, in the slot but hits it straight to cover and the game is gone now.

Mathews now has to bowl the last four balls. 20 needed off 4 balls.

19.3 Chameera to Qadeer, NO BALL, another full toss no ball for height and Chameera is now out of the attack. They also sneak a single.

19.2 Chameera to Raza, 1 run, backs away and hits a full toss to sweeper cover for a single.

19.1 Chameera to Qadeer, 1 run, yorker dug out and jammed down to long-on for a single.

19.1 Chameera to Qadeer, NO Ball and FOUR, wide down the leg side, a full toss goes for four wides. Free-hit coming up.

Chameera to bowl the last over. 29 runs needed but the big question is whether they will be bowled out or will they play out their innings?

18.6 Malinga to Raza, 2 runs, slower ball and Raza guides it down to third man, where the fielder does well to prevent the boundary.

Qadeer Ahmed comes out to bat.

18.5 Malinga to Naveed, WICKET, length ball this time from Malinga and Naveed can only hit it up in the air and Angelo Mathews makes no mistake at cover. Malinga now has four wickets.

18.4 Malinga to Naveed, no run, another yorker, this time slightly wider and the batsman swings and misses.

Will Malinga make it six out of six?

18.3 Malinga to Naveed, no run, yorker no.3 on target and Naveed hits it back into his own body.

18.2 Malinga to Naveed, 2 runs, Another brilliant yorker but Naveed picks up a couple and is back on strike.

18.1 Malinga to Raza, 1 run, brilliant wide yorker from Malinga and Raza can only pick up a single.

18.1 Malinga to Raza, NO BALL, Free-hit, full toss down leg side. Can UAE take advantage of this?

Malinga to bowl the penultimate over.

17.6 Kulasekara to Raza, no run, well-directed yorker is dug out by Raza, who manages to get it to long-on.

17.5 Kulasekara to Naveed, 1 run, full toss and Naveed finds the fielder at cover.

And that might be that for UAE, who lose their captain and set batsman. Raza, who bowled so beautifully comes in to bat, can he do something special?

17.4 Kulasekara to Javed, WICKET, tries to launch Kula out of the stadium but only suceeds in picking out Kapugedera at long-off.

17.3 Kulasekara to Naveed, 1 run, another mis-hit but this time it falls short of long-on and they pick up a single.

17.2 Kulasekara to Naveed, no run, tries to bissect the two fielders behind square but only succeeds in finding the backward point fielder.

17.1 Kulasekara to Javed, 1 run, another slower ball and Javed cannot connect properly and only gets a single to deep mid-wicket.

Kula to bowl his final over with UAE needing 39 off the last three overs.

16.6 Malinga to Naveed, 2 runs, another slower ball and Naveed connects with his big hit but it just sails over the fielder at mid-off and they pick up a couple of runs.

16.5 Malinga to Naveed, dot ball, slower ball as predicted but Naveed goes for a slog and misses the ball.

Malinga is struggling here. So that will mean he will look to bowl slower balls.

16.4 Malinga to Naveed, FOUR, full toss that was mis-directed and Naveed does brilliantly to hit that past short fine-leg for a boundary.

16.3 Malinga to Patil, WICKET, slower ball and Patil fails to pick and gets a top-edge and it loops over to cover and Malinga runs across to take an easy catch. Patil is gone for 37 and is that the end of the UAE resistance?

16.3 Malinga to Patil, WIDE, the batsman dances down the track and Malinga goes too wide.

16.2 Malinga to Patil, no run, walks down the track and tries to nudge it behind but misses the full ball outside off.

16.1 Malinga to Javed, 1 run, Javed backed away but fails to hit the full toss for four and only gets a single to mid-wicket.

And guess who has the ball to bowl the 17th over. You guessed it right, it is Lasith Malinga. Can they get arguably the world's best death bowler away for runs?

47 to win off 24 balls. Doable but the problem is two of those overs will be bowled by Malinga.

15.6 Herath to Javed, 1 run, singles aren't going to hurt Sri Lanka, but that is all UAE have managed off the last four balls.

15.5 Herath to Javed, no run, gives himself some room but is unable to beat backward point.

15.4 Herath to Patil, 1 run, driven down to long-on for another single.

15.3 Herath to Javed, 1 run, dances down the wicket and smokes it down the ground but good fielding at long-off restricts it to 1.

15.2 Herath to Javed, 2 runs, flicked off his pads and he gets a couple of runs.

15.1 Herath to Patil, 1 run, driven through cover and that should have been two but they only run 1. Good fielding but poor running.

53 to win off the last 5 overs. Can UAE record a shock win?

14.6 Chameera to Patil, 1 legbye, pitched up this time and almost gets an lbw. But Patil survives and gets a legbye down to third man and retains strike.

14.5 Chameera to Patil, FOUR, slower bouncer and Patil latches onto it and hits it away from the fielder at mid-on for another boundary.