KARACHI, July 1: Muttiah Muralitharan bowled reigning champions Sri Lanka into the final of the ninth Asia Cup cricket tournament as Bangladesh were overwhelmed by 158 runs in Super Four round match at the National Stadium here on Monday night (partly reported in Tuesday’s edition).

The legendary off-spinner snared five for 31 — the 35-year-old’s first five-wicket haul in One-day Internationals since he took 5-23 against Zimbabwe at Harare on April 29, 2004 — as Bangladesh were skittled out for 174 in 38.3 overs.It was a one-way traffic throughout the Bangladesh innings after Man-of-the-Match Sanath Jayasuriya (130 off 88 balls) and Kumar Sangakkara (121) had powered Sri Lanka to an imposing 332-8. Mohammad Ashraful’s men had no answer to Muralitharan’s guiles.

Raqibul Hasan, the top-scorer with 52 off 63 deliveries (seven boundaries), and Nazimuddin (47 off 59 balls, seven fours and one six) carried the fight to the rampant Sri Lankans, but they were always up against the wall.

Nazimuddin entered double figures for the first time in four matches while sharing successive partnerships of 43 apiece with Ashraful and Raqibul until a mix-up with the latter ended his innings via a run out.

Apart from Nazimuddin and Raqibul, only the Bangladesh captain managed to cross the 10-run mark as Muralitharan sliced through the batting.

Mushfiqur Rahim had no clue about Muralitharan’s ‘doosra’ and edged a simple catch to Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene at slip. The same combination also accounted for Raqibul while another ‘doosra’ got rid of Alok Kapali, the century-maker against India.

And Mashrafe Mortaza top-edged a sweep to short fine-leg, Muralitharan celebrated his ninth five-for in 308 one-dayers.

Afterwards, Jayawardene heaped praise on his three match-winners.

“I though both Jayasuriya and Sangakkara played well and ensured we made a solid total. But it was disappointing for us to lose wickets in the middle order but then Muralitharan bowled very well to help us qualify for the final,” the skipper said at the post-match media briefing.

Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons, meanwhile, conceded Sri Lanka were too hot to handle by his young chargers.

“There is little we can do when a team play like the Sri Lankans did tonight. They were simply too good for us,” the Australian remarked. “The target was too big for us and the way Murali bowled it was extremely hard facing him.”

Jayasuriya becomes the second oldest batsman to score a one-day hundred behind England’s Geoff Boycott, who scored a century against Australia at Sydney in 1979 when he was 39 years and 51 days old.Sri Lanka, who had carried two points forward from their league-round win over fellow qualifiers Bangladesh at Lahore last week, have now six points with the Super Four clash against India still to come on Thursday before Sunday’s final.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

S.T. Jayasuriya c Tamim b Kapali 130

K.C. Sangakkara b Razzak 121

D.P.M.D. Jayawardene c Ashraful b Kapali 20

C.K. Kapugedera c Kapali b Shahadat 1

L.P.C. Silva lbw b Farhad 5

T.M. Dilshan run out 2

W.P.U.J.C. Vaas c Raqibul b Farhad 7

T. Thushara b Mashrafe 10

K.M.D.N. Kulasekara not out 18

B.A.W. Mendis not out 8

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-5, NB-2) 10

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 332

FALL OF WKTS: 1-201, 2-235, 3-243, 4-263, 5-267, 6-292, 7-304, 8-310.

DID NOT BAT: M. Muralitharan.

BOWLING: Mashrafe Mortaza 10-0-78-1 (3w); Shahadat Hossain 7-1-46-1 (2w); Abdur Razzak 10-0-71-1 (2nb); Farhad Reza 9-0-51-2; Mahmudullah 8-0-43-0; Alok Kapali 6-0-40-2.

BANGLADESH:

Tamim Iqbal c Dilshan b Vaas 8

Nazimuddin run out 47

M. Ashraful c Dilshan b Thushara 14

Raqibul Hasan c J’wardene b Murali 52

Mushfiqur Rahim c J’wardene b Murali 8

Alok Kapali lbw b Murali 9

Mahmudullah c sub b Mendis 8

Abdur Razzak b Murali 7

Farhad Reza c J’wardene b Mendis 2

Mashrafe Mortaza c Silva b Murali 2

Shahadat Hossain not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-6, W-7, NB-1) 14

TOTAL (all out, 38.3 overs) 174

FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 2-53, 3-96, 4-116, 5-135, 6-158, 7-162, 8-168, 9-172.

BOWLING: Vaas 5-0-21-1; Kulasekara 6-1-26-0; Thushara 5-0-36-1 (1nb, 1w); Mendis 7.3-0-29-2; Muralitharan 10-1-31-5 (5w); Kapugedera 5-0-25-0.

RESULT: Sri Lanka won by 158 runs.

UMPIRES: B.G. Jerling (South Africa) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: A.M. Saheba (India).

MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Australia).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka).