Malinga's five-for hands Sri Lanka the Asia Cup

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Lasith Malinga's five wickets helped Sri Lanka break their finals jinx and beat Pakistan by five wickets in the final of the Asia Cup in Mirpur on Saturday.

Malinga made the most of the new ball, after Pakistan chose to bat first, and dismissed openers Sharjeel Khan and Ahmed Shehzad in his first two overs.

He returned in his third over and dismissed Mohammad Hafeez for just three. Pakistan was struggling at that stage at 18 runs for three wickets.

Captain Misbah-ul-haq and Fawad Alam then combined and put on a 112-run stand for the fourth wicket. But Malinga returned for a short spell and dismissed Misbah for 65 in the 37th over.

Umar Akmal then joined forces with Alam and put on a 115-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Like he did before, Malinga was called into the attack again and he dismissed Akmal for 59 runs in the 50th over.

Malinga was the only Sri Lankan bowler to pick up wickets in the match and ended with figures of five for 56 in his ten overs. His effort restricted Pakistan to 260 in their 50 overs.

Sri Lanka's batsmen continued their supreme form - that they've displayed throughout the tournament - in the final as well. Lahiru Thirimanne scored a hundred that helped give his side the advantage.

Mahela Jayawardene and Kusal Perera put on an impressive 75 and 42 runs respectively to hand Sri Lanka the Asia Cup.

"Last couple of days we were training hard and we stuck to our basics in the big final," Malinga said.

"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"