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Summary
Sri Lanka 242/9 (50 overs) Pakistan 226 (47.0 overs) The crowd roar and roar. Shoaib Akthar impressed on his comeback. Shahid Afridi dazzled with an special out-of-character knock. But it was Lasith Malinga who killed the contest with an outstanding effort with the ball and took five wickets to all out Pakistan at 226. Shahid Afridi played captain's innings and made 109 scores but could not achieve the victory in the first match of the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka. Earlier, Comeback pacer Shoaib Akhtar bowled with verve and purpose on an unresponsive wicket to help Pakistan restrict Sri Lanka to 242 for nine in the first match of the Asia Cup cricket tournament today. Playing his first international match in 13 months, the controversial fast bowler scalped three wickets in four short spells to restrict Lanka to a modest total at the Rangiri Dambulla International stadium. For the Lankans, Mahela Jayawardene (54) and Kumar Sangakkara (42) came up with useful knocks but it was Angellow Matthews' unbeaten 55 off 61 balls that took the defending champions near the 250-mark. Shoaib Akhtar was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers and the 34-year-old, who last played in a ODI against Australia in Abu Dhabi in May, did work up speeds in the region of 140 KMPH plus but was far from his menacing best.
