体坛英语新闻：Sri Lanka beats Pakistan by five wickets to clinch 2014 Asia Cup

DHAKA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by five wickets to clinch the 2014 Asia Cup title in Dhaka on Saturday.

Batting first, Pakistan scored 260 runs for five wickets in their 50 overs in the final of the one-day cricket tournament at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium.

A superb fifer by pacer Lasith Malinga and a patient century with 13 fours from HDRL Thirimanne guided Sri Lanka to chase down the target of a stiff 261 runs in which DPMD Jayawardene contributed 75 runs.

HDRL Thirimanne left crease with his 101 runs off 108 balls. Malinga solely took all the five wickets and kept things tight for Pakistani batsmen for making runs.

Malinga was adjudged man of the match while HDRL Thirimanne man of the series.

Winning the toss, Pakistan had earlier in the day opted to field first against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan middle-order batsman Fawad Alam scored his maiden century and steered his side to the competitive score of 260 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in their allotted 50 overs. He scored unbeaten 114 runs off 134 balls.

Pakistan Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq's 65 runs off 98 balls and Umar Akmal's 59 runs off 42 balls also helped Pakistan for making the fighting score against Sri Lanka.

Saeed Ajmal took three wickets for Pakistan while Mohammad Talha and Junaid Khan picked up one wicket each but their efforts were not enough to restrict Sri Lanka, which emerged champions for the fifth time winning Saturday's final with an unbeaten record in the tournament.

Sri Lanka finally won by 5 wickets with 22 balls remaining in the final of the five-way battle for regional supremacy which were fought among four Test-playing nations -- Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and an ICC (International Cricket Council) associate Afghanistan.