Sri Lanka have won the Asia Cup 2014 with the greatest ease, to record their 5th triumph in the tournament, equaling the record held by India. The late show of spirited batting by Pakistan was not enough in the end against the determined Lankans. All through the tournament, Sri Lankans played with purpose. They didn’t lose a single league game and despite occasional hiccups, they didn’t surrender control. On the other hand, Pakistan had to struggle in a few games, including the one against India, where they scraped through in the final over, after India held the reins for a while. One is left wondering about Pakistan’s fate, if the old foe Shahid Afridi was not present in the middle, with 9 wickets gone and a few balls left in the 50th over against India. The same Shahid Afridi produced another magical performance, when Bangladesh had left Pakistan with a target of 327 at the slow Mirpur pitch. With a bludgeoning display of vintage form, boom boom Afridi blasted 7 sixes in a 25-ball 59 to steal the match from the hosts, when all seemed lost for Pakistan. Even after the Afridi heroics, the victory for Pakistan came off the last ball of the innings. It tells you how close the match was for Pakistan.
However, the Sri Lankan batsmen began in the same nonchalant way that has been trademark in the tournament. Despite losing two wickets on the same score of 56, Lankans continued to surge with a run-rate in excess of 5 at all times. Mahela Jayawardane and Lahiru Thirimanne batted with practiced ease and kept finding gaps to score their runs. Thirimanne played with great control and recorded his second century of this Asia Cup. His first one had also come against Pakistan in the league game earlier. Jayawardane, however, was a lot subdued but he carried on regardless. Since Sangakkara was dismissed for a duck, someone had to play a sheet anchor and Jayawardane filled that role. When the third Lankan wicket fell, the score had already reached 212 and more than 12 overs remained. There was no way any team could stop Sri Lanka at that time. Though Sri Lanka lost two more wickets, they were always on course to win their 5th Asia Cup title. For Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal produced a beautiful spell of slow bowling, which the Sri Lanka batsmen found difficult to negotiate. Ajmal accounted for three of the five Sri Lanka wickets that fell, including that of Lahiru Thirimanne, who was simply foxed by a delivery that hit the stumps after scraping his pads.
For Sri Lanka, Lasith Malinga was the other hero, who claimed all Pakistani wickets that fell. He had taken 5 in the league game too, against Pakistan. But other than Thirimanne and Malinga, Sri Lankans performed as a team in the tournament. Kumar Sangakkara dominated every bowler that he faced and except for the final, his batting was superb. Angelo Mathews proved his worth as skipper and a utility all-rounder with remarkable camaraderie despite leading a side full of senior cricketers. The Sri Lankan dominance was evident from the fact that, when the match ended with their five-wicket victory, 22 balls still remained.