Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Final at Dhaka, Mar 08 2014 - Match Result

10.20 pm So that's all we have for you after this long and action-packed tournament. It's been a pleasure bringing it to you but like all good things, this too comes to an end and my fingers say their feeble thanks. This is Alagappan Muthu, saying take it easy, peeps

Angelo Mathews, the winning captain, says "We wanted to break the barrier between us and the finals and credit to the whole team. I thought the toss wasn't crucial and Lasith set us up wonderfully. It was a very good run-chase. Big victory not only for me, but for the whole team. Haven't won a major tournament for a while. Very tough call to leave Mendis out because he performs well whenever we ask him to. But we wanted an extra death bowling option and Lakmal was brilliant." Thanks the fans of Dhaka and back home in Sri Lanka and then the selectors for having faith before walking off

Misbah-ul-Haq collects the runners-up cheque, They've provided some amazing games in the series. "I think losing the first three wickets so quickly we were under pressure. We recovered well after that, but we could have added 25-30 runs more. Just could not build enough pressure with the ball. It wasn't the pressure of the final. Just didn't execute our plans. We wanted not to give Lasith any wickets and in the end he took all our wickets. You need partnerships in the bowling as well. Saeed was bowling really well, but we were leaking runs in the other end. Batting was a positive sign in the series, Shehazad and Afridi and Alam and Akmal and Hafeez all played really good knocks, They batted sensibly and contributed really well. Most of the guys in the T20 side are in good form and we've been playing here for a while so we have a great chance in the World T20"

Lahiru Thirimanne is the Player of the Series "Actually, I just wanted ot play the anchor role today. We knew 260 was gettable but one man has to take up the responsibility and play through the innings. Ball was skidding onto the bat and I used the pace. It's my first Man of the Series and I'm very happy about it"

Shahid Afridi picks up the maximum sixes award. No surprise there

10.00 pm Lasith Malinga is the Man of the Match Walks up muscles bulging in a sleeveless shirt and picks up his awards. Those came in handy when he was firing in those yorkers. "Last couple of days we were training hard and we stuck to our basics in the big final. And the rest helped as well. Just tried to bowl good line and length and it worked for me and the team. Yeah, last few games I've done well against Pakistan and I'm looking forward to picking more wickets in the future"

9.50 pm Thirimanne has a stump in his hand and has to evade Chandimal who seems intent on flooring him with a big hug. Ruffles his hair when he finally catches him. There was only a brief period early on that Sri Lanka wobbled, but in the hands of Mahela Jayawardene and Lahiru Thirimanne himself, they survived it and almost took them home. Very measured innings from both of them. We all know Mahela's ability to make it count even against all odds, but Thirimanne has risen in this series and seems to relish opening the batting. Seems a very bright prospect for the future. Spare a thought for Saeed Ajmal though. He has been beyond masterclass all through the series. Not to mention Fawad Alam who made his first ODI ton today and became the first left-handed Pakistan batsman to score a ton outside the opener's position. Hang on for the presentations, by the way

Aman: "@Muthu... Dude, too many spelling mistakes.. i know its all too fast... "thorugh, becayuse, Malionga bowlwed relaly well, took 5 wivjets" We love u, enjoyed ur commentary :)" They were talking too fast, mate. Sorry and thanks

"so many good things for Pakistan to take away from this tournament. Umar Akmal batting more responsibly, vintage shahid afridi and most importantly Fawad in the middle order after too many experiments with asad, malik, razzaq and azhar. a good opener and a right arm fast bowler still a concern though." Atta boy, Sami Qahar. Excellent, rational points.

Thirimanne: Enjoying it. Scoring runs against Pakistan, very happy. Want to bat thorugh the innings today because 260 is a gettable total but we needed someone to hang in there . Malinga bowled really well, took 5 wickets. Had the momentum and we wanted to keep it and we're very happy

Mahela: Think it's a total team effort. Disappointed I couldn't contribute. The boys dragged me through and I thought Thiri batted well. I just wanted to be positive. I don't think about it as a final, just another game and bat the situation. Fantastic effort by the boys. It did, at the same time the tournament is a touch one. To go through it unbeaten shows great character. Wasn't one person performing, the bowlers, batsmen and everyone contributed

Sanga: One good knock is all we needed and we had three of them with Kusal. Fantastic effort from Mahela and Thiri to keep us steady. He's a class player and rises to the occasion and the team has a lot of confidence in him. The fast bowlers did very well, especially Lasith. The fielding was great as well, though I thought we gave a few extra runs in the end but that was always going to happen with the new rules.

Daniel Alexander: "No Dilshan, Herath, Kulasekara, Mendis and Sangakkara gone first ball, and still Sri Lanka win! "

Uwaisul Karnain: "Another clinical performance from SL secure them the Arise Asia cup and this is their 9th win in a row. Fittingly Mathews hit the winning runs which he richly deserved!"

mirandola: "It's so good to see SL overcoming the hoodoo of 'always the bridesmaid' - a good match, though Pak were always 30 light, I felt."

6 runs to win off the last four overs

"Although Akmal scored his runs quickly, can't help feeling that had Afridi gone out instead Pakistan may have had another 20-30 runs on the board..." Oh, dont do that to yourself, Edwin

Nitin: "So we're coming to the end of the tournament. Sl favours to win. Now @ALAGAPPAN MUTHU, we need you to jinx. Please end the series with a thriller from u Sir!!!!!!" Eh, I wanna go eat so I'd be happy if this is wrapped up in the next over. Whichever way it goes

"Ajmal's confidence inspires me. No matter what is the situation or who's the batsman, he is just phenomenal. Maybe this is what they call form!" I think you mean class, Vineeth

Daniel Alexander: "@ Ara - SL won all three matches in which Thirimanne scored the century, who cares" This one's not done yet, Dan. Only a technicality it seems though

ARa: "Well done Thirimanne but I think he has a problem with losing concentration after 100s. 3ODI hundreds...highest score of 102"

slip and now short leg comes in

Chaturanga de Silva is in now

"Ajmal should have bowled the last over, Thiru at 99 and new batsmen Mathews no point waiting till end.... Misbah" Here he is now, Naeem

Daniel Alexande: "Thirimanne and Malinga opened the Asia cup with a century and 5-fer receptively,and now shuts the Asia cup in same fashion! "

Sri Lanka need 15 more to win the Asia Cup.