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Upashantha bowls Lanka to victory

Eric Upashantha bowled a dream spell to capture seven wickets as Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 25 runs to win the inaugural Abu Dhabi Cricket Cup last night.

Upashantha, the lanky allrounder, claimed the first seven Pakistani wickets to guide the Islanders to their second victory in the championship.

Sri Lanka had defeated India yesterday.

With Sri Lanka clinching the title, the India-Pakistan match tonight has become inconsequential though it has generated quite a lot of excitement among the spectators as is common in any sporting event between the two countries.

Chasing Sri Lanka's score of 142 in 49.2 overs, Pakistan could manage just 117 despite a fighting half century, the first in the tournament, by their skipper Rashid Latif.

Upashantha bowled unchanged for nine overs to reduce Pakistan to 44 for 7. Three of his victims were caught behind by Galagoda. The 27-year-old Sri Lankan finished with 7 for 30. His bowling figures were better than the all-time best of 7 for 37 by Aaqib Javed, against India at Sharjah in 1991-92, and 7 for 51 by W W Davis for the West Indies, against Australia at Leeds in the 1983 World Cup.

The Pakistanis have themselves to blame for their poor batting performance. Their top order, including the hard-hitting Shahid Afridi, did not find any virtue in patience and gifted their wickets to Upashantha. Captain Latif made a valiant attempt to his team to victory but he was left short of partners. Latif made a fighting 54 not out.

Latif hit four sixes and two fours and put on 45 runs for the last wicket with Kabir Khan before a mix-up ended their fightback.

At one stage, Latif and Kabir raised visions of a Pakistani victory as they played cautiously and took their team out of deep trouble.

Earlier, electing to bat first, Sri Lanka also started badly and were 52 for 4 at one stage. Only Ruwan Kalpage and Chintaka Jayasinghe could cross the 25-run mark. The duo steadied the Sri Lankan innings with a 54-run partnership.

For Pakistan, pacemen Sajid Shah, Kabir Khan and offspinner Arshad Khan bowled well. Arshad took three wickets in his ten overs while giving away only 15 runs.

Upashantha was declared the man of the match for his heroic effort.

Latif said bad batting did them in."The pitch was okay but Upashantha bowled consistently well and our batsmen also committed blunders," he added.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka: 142 all out in 49.2 overs (R Kalpage 25, C Jayasinghe 28, Arhad Khan 3 for 15).
Pakistan: 117 (S Elahi 17, Rashid Latif 54 not out, E Upashantha 7 for 30).

UNI