Dhaka, June 1: Indomitable Sanath Jayasuriya struck a fine century while Romesh Kaluwitharana and Chaminda Vaas came up with breezy knocks as defending champions Sri Lanka posted a challenging 276 for eight against India in the four-nation Asia Cup cricket tournament on Thursday.Jayasuriya, who opened the Lankan innings with Aravinda de Silva (23), played sensibly to pile up well-deserving 105 and also compiled a century partnership with Marvan Atapattu giving Indian attack much to ponder before the crucial tie against Pakistan.De Silva, being tried as opener with success by the islanders, was in punishing mood from the start as Sri Lanka reached 50 inside 10 overs and the two looked in dangerous form.Speedster T Kumaran drew first blood when he caught de Silva off his own bowling in the 13th over as the batsman tried to negotiate a straighter delivery. Indian bowlers kept a good line but wickets failed to come their way as Atapattu and Jayasuriya kept the scoreboard moving constantly. Sachin Tendulkar provided the badly needed break-through as he teased Atapattu a while with his off-breaks before the batsman edged one behind for Dravid to collect nicely. Atapattu made 42 in the 104-run second wicket partnership with his skipper.Pak start campaignDHAKA: The last time Bangladesh and Pakistanmet in a One-Day International tournament, the result stunned the cricket world.But with Bangladesh's finest moment in their nascent career tainted by allegations of match-fixing, the two countries will square off in a league match on Friday with both wanting to prove a point.A travel-weary Pakistan will hope to exorcise the ghosts of match-fixing in that Northampton clash nearly a year after the World Cup in England and shift the focus back to cricket. Bangladesh will hope to repeat their World Cup victory against their unpredictable opponents.A good performance will also help cement Bangladesh's claim for Test status, which will come up before the International Cricket Council this month. They have a good batting line-up and opener Javed Omar, Habibul Basher, skipper Aminul Islam and Akram Khan have all made decent contributions in the first two matches.But it will need a brilliant performance from their bowlers also if they are to upset Pakistan's applecart. Pakistan, with needle contests against archrivals India and defending champions Sri Lanka next in line, cannot afford to be complacent .
