DHAKA: Despite being dismissed for 133, Sri Lanka fought back and routed Afghanistan by 68 runs to take the gold medal at the Asian Games in Incheon. 

After Lahiru Thirimanne's fifty steered the innings, Sri Lanka's bowlers made sure the Afghanistan batsmen never got comfortable in the chase and eventually dismissed them for 65.

Opting to bat, Sri Lanka were set for a big score and had reached 78 for 1 after 10 overs. But Afghanistan removed both set batsmen - Dinesh Chandimal for 33 and Thirimanne for 57 - and did not let any partnership flourish thereon.

Not a single boundary was struck after Thirimanne's dismissal and Afghanistan collected the last seven wickets for only 33 runs, bowling Sri Lanka out with five balls to spare. Mohammad Nabi led the way for his bowlers, contributing with 4 for 18.

Afghanistan had a good chance of beating Sri Lanka but failed to get going in the chase. Isuru Udana struck twice in the fourth over and Chaturanga de Silva struck in the next to leave the score at 20 for 3. The other bowlers also closed in on the batsmen, all of them picking at least one wicket.

 The score soon became 36 for 5 and the remaining five wickets managed to put together 29 more runs. Only three Afghanistan batsmen reached double figures as the team settled for a silver medal, reports cricinfo.com

In the third-place playoff, Bangladesh beat Hong Kong by 27 runs after scoring 162 for 6. Shakib Al Hasan's 46 and Mahmudullah's unbeaten 21-ball 35 set up a challenging score for Hong Kong, who managed 135 for 7 on the back of top-scorer Mark Chapman's 38. Two of Hong Kong's top four batsmen fell for ducks which threw them off track early in the chase and Arafat Sunny picked up three wickets for 22 runs to help them win the bronze medal.

BDST: 1008 HRS, OCT 04, 2014