Sri Lanka in finals after nine-run win

Sri Lanka entered this match with their fate in their own hands. It turns out those are pretty safe hands. Not even a hat-trick from Daniel Christian, a four-wicket comeback from James Pattinson, a captain's half-century from Shane Watson or a remarkable, late, fighting fifty from David Hussey could prevent Sri Lanka from winning the last qualifying match at the MCG. Lasith Malinga led a strong bowling performance to complete Sri Lanka's nine-run victory, which propelled them into the tri-series finals.

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Pakistan squad for Asia Cup 2012

Pakistan squad for Asia Cup
Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Hammad Azam, Asad Shafiq, Shahid Afridi, Azhar Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Wahab Riaz.
Reserves: Ahmed Shehzad, Rahat Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, Afaq Rahim.

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Asia Cup 2012 Fixtures..

Bangladesh v Pakistan
Mar 11, 2012 
India v Sri Lanka
Mar 13, 2012
Pakistan v Sri Lanka
Mar 15, 2012
Bangladesh v India
Mar 16, 2012
India v Pakistan
Mar 18, 2012
Bangladesh v Sri Lanka
Mar 20, 2012
Final:
Mar 22, 2012
Ground:Shere Bangla,Mirpur Dhaka..
Timing: 01:00 PM PST , 01:30 PM IST , 02:00 PM BST & SST

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Junaid Khan out of Asia Cup

 The Pakistan fast bowler, who sustained a knee injury during the recently-concluded England series, will not be available for the Asia Cup when the new selection committee chaired by Iqbal Qasim sits tomorrow to pick the squad. PCB sources have indicated that Junaid is likely to be out of action for three weeks.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Junaid picked up the injury during training ahead of the second Twenty20 in Dubai. MRI scans revealed a fracture of the patella. Junaid had played a total of three matches on the tour - one Test, one ODI and one Twenty20 - and accounted for just one wicket.

Junaid, 21, who graduated from the same Under-19 batch that Mohammad Amir came from, is also a left-arm fast bowler but his fledgling career has been hurt by injuries in the last few months. Incidentally Junaid was picked for the England series after he had freshly recovered from the abdominal tear he picked during the ODI series against Sri Lanka last year, which ruled him out for six weeks.

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Iqbal Qasim named Pakistan chief selector

Mohammad Ilyas has stepped down as Pakistan's interim chief selector, while Iqbal Qasim has been appointed to the post of chief selector.

The decision to appoint Qasim, a former chief selector himself, had been taken after Ilyas put forward his resignation today on the sidelines of the governing board meeting in Islamabad. The board, however, had decided to bring back Qasim and former selector Saleem Jaffar in the five-man committee. Azhar Khan, Asif Baloch and Farukh Zaman were retained in the committee.

"We wanted to make some changes regarding the selection committee and Iqbal Qasim is the new chairman of the selection committee," Ashraf said after the meeting. "Pakistan is going to the Asia Cup (in Bangladesh) and I hope the selectors will continue the merit policy."

Qasim, presently the sports head of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), had resigned from his first stint as chief selector following a poor tour of Australia in 2009-10. The team was whitewashed in both the Test and ODI series and Shahid Afridi was banned for biting the ball. Qasim was a member of the selection committee until the 2007 World Cup and had been appointed in an honorary post, continuing as a senior employee with NBP.www.allsportspak.blogspot.com

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