Asia Cup

At Dambulla, July 17, 2004 (day/night). Sri Lanka won by 116 runs. Sri Lanka 6 pts. Toss: Sri Lanka. One-day international debuts: S. L. Malinga; Ramveer Rai, Sameer Zia.

Sri Lanka, who rested Atapattu and Vaas, began their tournament with a jetlagged display after racing back from Cairns, where they had drawn their Test against Australia less than four days before. Gunawardene, playing his first one-day international for 15 months, anchored the Sri Lankan innings with 73, though the UAE captain, Khurram Khan, caused an embarrassing middle-order slide with his left-arm spin. But on a dry pitch, Chandana and Muralitharan proved too much for the UAE's batsmen. For the third time in four games, the margin of victory was 116 runs.

Man of the Match: Khurram Khan.