Asia Cup Cricket Schedule

[Sadaf Gondal]

Group A : Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka
Group B : Pakistan, india and Hong Kong

All Matches will play Day/Night and start from 11:30 IST and 6:00 GMT

June 24 - Bangladesh v United Arab Emirates, Lahore
June 24 - Pakistan v Hong Kong, Karachi
June 25 - Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Lahore
June 25 - Hong Kong v India, Karachi
June 26 - Sri Lanka v United Arab Emirates, Lahore
June 26 -Pakistan, india Karachi
June 28 - A2 v B2, Karachi
June 29 - A1 v B1, Karachi
June 30 - A1 v A2, Karachi
July 02 - B1 v B2, Karachi
July 03 - A1 v B2, Karachi
July 04 - A2 v B1, Karachi
July 06 - The Final, Karachi

[Sadaf Gondal]

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[Sadaf Gondal]

Bangladesh win toss, opt to field in Asia Cup fixture

LAHORE: Bangladesh won the toss and opted to field against Sri Lanka in their Asia Cup one-day international at Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.

Bangladesh retained the side that beat the United Arab Emirates by 96 runs on Tuesday while Sri Lanka play their opening fixture of the six-team event.

Teams:
Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Mortaza,Abdur Razzak, Alok Kapali, Dolar Mahmud, Mahmudullah, MushfiqurRahim, Nazimuddin, Raqibul Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, TamimIqbal.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya,Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dilhara Fernando, NuwanKulasekara, Chamara Kapugedera, Ajantha Mendis, MuttiahMuralitharan, Jehan Mubarak, Chaminda Vaas

[Sadaf Gondal]

India bats first against Hong Kong in Asia Cup

KARACHI: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss Wednesday and elected to bat first against Hong Kong in the Asia Cup group match.

India was without injured left-arm paceman Irfan Pathan, who is nursing a side strain, while Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma werealso left out of the match who India was expected to comfortably win.

Hong Kong made one change from the side that lost to Pakistan by155 runs Tuesday. Roy Lamsam replaced Zain Abbas.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Malik praises lower order for Asia Cup opener victory

KARACHI: After victory in the first match against Hong Kong in the Asia Cup, the Pakistan skipper said that his side never underestimated the minnows.

Malik told media in a post match conference that despite losing 7 wickets for mere 161 runs, he did not think the match was fading away from them.

The Pakistan skipper defended the batting lineup, stating that you cannot expect all the players to perform every day.

He added that Sohail Tanvir and Fawad Alam played like true professionals.

While on the other hand, Tabarak Dar the Hong Kong skipper also agreed that Fawad and Tanvir took the game away from them.

He said that they should have taken one more wicket when Pakistan were crumbling at 161/7.

[Sadaf Gondal]

India score record 374-4 against Hong Kong in Asia Cup

KARACHI: India plundered cricket minnows Hong Kong to score massive 374 runs for four wickets in the third match of the Asia Cup here on Wednesday at the National Stadium.

This is the highest team total in the history of the Asia Cup, eclipsing the previous record of 343-5 set by Pakistan against the same team at Colombo in 2004.

This is also the highest ODI score by any team at a Pakistani ground. The previous record was set by the West Indies some 20 years ago when they made 360-4 against Sri Lanka at the same ground in the World Cup’87.

However, this is India’s third highest total in One-day International cricket.

India made this mammothscore with the help of two individual hundreds and two fifties. The centurians were Captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina.

Dhoni remained unbeaten on 109 runs, scored from 96 balls with six sixers and six fours while Raina made more aggressive 101 off 68 balls with seven fours and five sixes.

They added together 166 runs for the fourth wicket partnership, an Asia Cup record for this wicket, surpassing 139, set by Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh at Kolkata in 1990-91.

Earlier, openers Virender Sehwag and Gambhir Singh made together 127 runs after India won the toss.

Sehwag smashed 78 off 44 balls with 13 boundaries and two sixes while Gambhir made 51 off 54 balls with seven fours.

From Hong Kong, Najeeb Amar claimed two wickets for 40 runs while Afzal Haider took one wicket at a heavy cost of 72 runs from only six overs.

[Sadaf Gondal]

India thrash HK by record 256 runs in Asia Cup

KARACHI: India, playing their first match in the Asia Cup 2008, thrashed minnows Hong Kong by a huge margin of 256 runs in Group ‘B’ match here on Wednesday at the National Stadium.

This is the biggest margin of victory in the history of Asia Cup, surpassing the previous record of 233 runs, set by Pakistan against Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2000.

Chasing an improbable target of 375 runs, Hong Kong were looking unable to do so right from the beginning as wickets fell at regular intervals and they were all out for 118 runs in 36.5 overs.

Only five of the Hong Kong batsmen could enter into double figures. They were Irfan Ahmed (25), James Atkinson (23), captain Tabarak Dar (21), Roy Lamsam (16) and Najeeb Amar (13 not out).

Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was the most outstanding bowler, who bagged four wickets for 23 while Virender Singh claimed two for just five runs.

Earlier, India plundered cricket minnows Hong Kong to score massive 374 runs for four wickets after winning the toss..

This is the highest team total in the history of the Asia Cup, eclipsing the previous record of 343-5, set by Pakistan against the same team at Colombo in 2004.

This is also the highest ODI score by any team at a Pakistani ground. The previous record was set by the West Indies 20 years ago when they made 360-4 against Sri Lanka at the same ground in the World Cup’87.

However, this is India’s third highest total in One-day International cricket.

India made this mammoth score with the help of two individual hundreds and two fifties. The centurians were Captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina.

Dhoni remained unbeaten on 109 runs, scored from 96 balls with six sixers and as many fours while Raina made more aggressive 101 off 68 balls with seven fours and five sixes.

They added together 166 runs for the fourth wicket partnership, the Asia Cup record for this wicket, surpassing 139, set by Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh at Kolkata in 1990-91.

Openers Virender Sehwag and Gambhir Singh made together 127 runs. Sehwag smashed 78 off 44 balls with 13 boundaries and two sixes and Gambhir made 51 off 54 balls with seven fours.

For Hong Kong, Najeeb Amar claimed two wickets for 40 runs while Afzal Haider took one wicket at a heavy cost of 72 runs from only six overs.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Sri Lanka set BD 358-run target in Asia Cup

LAHORE: Sri Lanka in their first match in group ‘B’ of the Asia Cup 2008, set a difficult target of 358 runs for Bangladesh here on Wednesday at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Put into bat by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka made a huge score of 357 runs but they lost nine wickets in the process.

Their main scorers were openers Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya, and middle-order batsman Chamara Kapugedera.

Sangakkara notched 101 for his seventh one-day hundred off 91 balls with 16 fours while Jayasuriya scored 72 off 47 balls with three sixes and 10 fours.

Both the left-handers added 116 runs for the opening stand before left-arm spinner Abdur Razak ended Jayasuriya's innings, bowling him with a straighter one..

Kapugedera hit 74 off 67 balls with five boundaries and two towering sixes

For Bangladesh, left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak finished with 3-55 while pacesr Mahrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain claimed two wickets each.

Dolar Mahmud conceded 49 runs off just three overs.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Sri Lanka beat BD by 131 runs in Asia Cup

LAHORE: Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by 131 runs in the Group ‘A’ match of the Asia Cup here on Wednesday at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Chasing a tough target of 358 runs, Bangladesh fought bravely but could not play fast against the accurate bowling by the Sri Lankans and finished at 126 for seven in the allotted 50 overs.

Their main scorers were Mushfiq Rahim (44), Raqibul Hasan (35), Mashrafe Mortaza (34 not out),Alok Kapali (30) and Abdur Razzak (22 not out).

For Sri Lanka, off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan claimed two wickets for 37.

Earlier, Sri Lanka in their first match of the tournament set a difficult target of 358 runs for Bangladesh.

Put into bat by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka made a huge score of 357 runs but they lost nine wickets in the process.

Their main scorers were openers Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya, and middle-order batsman Chamara Kapugedera.

Sangakkara notched 101 for his seventh one-day hundred off 91 balls with 16 fours while Jayasuriya scored 72 off 47 balls with three sixes and 10 fours.

Both the left-handers added 116 runs for the opening stand before left-arm spinner Abdur Razak ended Jayasuriya's innings, bowling him with a straighter one..

Kapugedera hit 74 off 67 balls with five boundaries and two towering sixes

For Bangladesh, left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak finished with 3-55 while pacesr Mahrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain claimed two wickets each.

Dolar Mahmud conceded 49 runs off just three overs.

[Sadaf Gondal]

Pakistan beaten by India in high-scoring match

KARACHI: India easily chased the big target of 300 runs for the loss of four wickets in the high-scoring final of the Group ‘B’ in the Asia Cup here on Thursday at the National Stadium.

Chasing 300, India lost opener Gambhir Singh wheen they were on just 12 runs but then Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina played strokes all around the ground and added 198 runs for the second wicket – the Asia Cup record.

Previously, it was 154 set by Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly against Bangladesh at Colombo in 2004.

Sehwag completed his ninth ODI century and later was dismissed at 119 runs, made off 95 balls with 12 fours and five sixes.

Raina scored 84 from 69 balls and hit ten fours and three sixes.

Later, Yuvraj Singh also batted well, scoring 48 off 47 balls with three sixes and one four.

Captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni remained not out on 26 when his team reached the target in 42.1 overs, winning the match by six wickets.

Earlier winning the toss, captain Shoaib Malik decided to bat first and opened the innings with Salman Butt. Though they batted slowly but gave a solid foundation with their opening stand of 90 runs before Butt departed for 35.

Then Younus Khan joined Malik and the score moved gradually on a faster pace. Malik completed his sixth ODI century and Younus Khan reached his 34th fifty.

They added 129 runs when Malik retired hurt after scoring 125 off 119 balls with 16 fours and a six. Younus Khan scored 59 off 60 balls with five fours.

Later, Misbah-ul-Haq (31 not out) and Mohammad Yousuf (30 off 20 balls) succeeding totake Pakistan’s score to 299-4.

Shahid Afridi failed again and could make only nine runs from eight balls.

For India, RP Singh, Pyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan took one wicket each.

Pakistan remained unchanged from their first-match line-up while India have made two changes in their team which played against Hong Kong yesterday. They brought in Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma in place of Robin Uthappa and Manpreet Gony.

However, India are without all-rounder Irfan Pathan for the second match in a row.