SRILANKA VS BANGLADESH FINAL ODI 2009:MURALITHARAN'S KNOCK SEALED SRILANKA TO A VICTORY IN THE FINALS

Muttiah Muralitharan shined with bat against Bangladesh in the final match to win the triangular ODI tournament for Sri Lanka at Mirpur here on Friday.Sri Lanka's Kumara Sangakkara was won the man of the match award as Shakib ul Hasan was adjudged man of the series.Sri Lanka, chasing 153 to win against Bangladesh, had lost top five wickets for just six runs. Kumara Sangakkara recovered the beleaguered islanders with Farvez Maharoof adding 113 runs for the seventh wicket.While the pair looked to have brought Sri Lanka near vicotry Shakib ul Hasan struck twice in the 44th over in the span of three deliveries. That had almost taken away the game from the Lankans before Muralitharan exploded with his bat. He scored 33runs from 16 balls with four fours and two sixes. Maharoof remained not out with 38 runs from 76 balls.Sri Lanka's misery began from the word go as Sanath Jayasuriya was run out in the first delivery of the innings. Upul Taharanga and Mahela Jayawardene fell next in the sixth over off Najmul Hossain. Lankans lost one more wicket in Chamara Kapugedara the next over off Mashrafe Mortaza. Hossain struck once again to get rid of Thilan Tushara two overs later.A helpless Kumara Sangakkara was staring from the other end as the visitors lost top five early wickets. However, after Jehan Mubarak joining him in the middle, the duo played some sensible cricket to ensure the match does not produce their lowest total.

But Sri Lanka suffered another setback in the second run-out of the innings as Mubarak departed for 16, adding 45 runs for the sixth wicket with Sangakkara.Earlier, Nuwan Kulasekara picked up three quick wickets to push the hosts on to backfoot after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.Bangladesh were reduced to 34 for three in the 12th over and were then 98 for six in the 33rd over before the lower order came up with some fine rearguard action.Raqibul Hasan held the innings with an unbeaten 43, while Mahmudullah amde 26 and Naeem Islam chipped in with 21.However, the spin duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Menis proved too much for the last three batsmen as Mashrafe Mortaza, Nazmul Hussain and Rubel Hossain were all dismissed for zero.