Sri Lanka Brush UAE Aside

Avishka Gunawardene starred with the bat and Muttiah Muralitharan starred with the ball as Sri Lanka beat the inexperienced UAE side quite comfortably and quite convincingly.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first and with the score at 39, Saman Jayantha was the first man to go falling for just 18 off the bowling of Syed Maqsood. Sanath Jayasuriya didn't last too long either, out for 21 as Sri Lanka started scratchily as the score was 2/41.

The shining light for the Sri Lankan's however was Avishka Gunawardene as he played confidently and displayed some of his fine batting talent. With the score at 105, Sangakkara fell lbw to Sameer Zia for just 17, and Sri Lanka were looking in trouble once again.

Stand in Sri Lankan skipper, Mahela Jayawardene joined Gunawardene and the two compiled a useful 38 run partnership before Jayawardene was dismissed for 26, run out by Ramveer Rai and Asghar Ali.

With Gunawardene going well at the other end, he lacked the support from his teammates. UAE captain, Khuram Khan struck with a double breakthrough and dismissed Dilshan (6) and Kandamby (4).

Gunawardene however continued to get stronger. However when on 73, he fell to the determined Khuram Khan and a good innings had come to an end. Chandana and Zoysa contributed 21 runs each as Sri Lanka finished up with a competitive total of 239 all out.

UAE's batting was always going to look miserable against the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Upul Chandana, and the UAE batsmen did not prove this theory wrong. Nuwan Zoysa struck the first two blows dismissing opening batsman Arshad Ali (7) and Fahad Usman (0).

Naeemuddin Aslam was the next man to go as Chandana dismissed him for 12 as UAE were struggling at 3/43. Opening batsman Ramveer Rai displayed grit, fight and determination as he slowly but surely crept his way onto the 20's.

Rai was determined not to lose his wicket, but his other teammates were not so gritty. With the score at 71, Syed Maqsood was dismissed by Muttiah Muralitharan and then with the score at 91, Lasith Malinga dismissed Khuram Khan for 8 as the UAE were slipping to certain defeat once again.

Three wickets fell in the space of three overs as Murali worked his magic and had Asghar Ali (0) and Asim Saeed (0) both dismissed in the space of two overs. To cap it off, the determined Ramveer Rai was dismissed by Chandana for 39 off a massive 124 balls.

Upul Chandana wrapped it up for Sri Lanka with the two final wickets of Mohammad Tauqir (6) and Ali Asad (12) as Sri Lanka were resounding victors as they won by 116 runs.

Brief Score Summary:

Sri Lanka: 239 All Out (Gunawardene 73, Jayawardene 26, Khuram Khan 4/32, Ali Asad 2/35)

UAE: 123 All Out (Ramveer Rai 39, Chandana 4/22, Muralitharan 3/21, Zoysa 2/11)

Cricket Web Player of the Match: Khuram Khan (UAE)

Posted by Sangrah