A stunning century from Shahid Afridi was not enough to stop Sri Lanka's triumph in the opening match of the 2010 Asia Cup.
Afridi's hundred could not have been more timely- it was his first one day ton in five years and came while Pakistan were floundering at an improbable 4-32, thanks to some fiery pace from Lasith Malinga, who returned his best figures in ODIs.
Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat in fine Dambulla sunshine- until Shoaib Akhtar struck.
The Rawalpindi express, playing in his first game since May 2009 took 3-41 against the Sri Lankans in his Asia Cup comeback and had the Sri Lankans in serious trouble at 7-168 before exciting young allrounder Angelo Matthews hauled the Lions to a respectable 9-242 with his unbeaten 55.
Pakistan's gallant captain put his controversial ball-chewing behind him and scored a magnificent hundred off a mere 76 deliveries (a strike rate Afridi himself would deem rather slow.)
Yet Shahid's fireworks were not enough, as he began to struggle with muscle cramps and finally holed out after being caught behind off the bowling of Sri Lanka's talisman Muttiah Muralidaran. (who took an unlucky 1-76)
This triggered yet another dramatic collapse- needing just 38 from 9.2 overs with four wickets in hand, the Pakistanis capitulated to be all out for 226 when Malinga (5-34 ) returned to remove the tail.
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