Close Pakistan 295 for 6 (Yousuf Youhana 129, Younis Khan 66) beat Sri Lanka 78 (Shoaib Akhtar 3-11, Waqar Younis 3-33) by 217 runs Series home scorecard

Yousuf Youhana smashed a century in his 100th one-dayer as Pakistan crushed Sri Lanka by a whopping 217 runs in the Sharjah Cup final.

Youhana hit 129 off 131 balls as Pakistan piled up 295 for 6 in their 50 overs, and then shot out a dispirited Sri Lanka for only 78 in 16.5 overs before 20,000 screaming fans at the Sharjah cricket stadium.

Their win, however, was marred by a serious injury to Muttiah Muralitharan which could keep him out of next month's tour of England.

Muralitharan, celebrating his 30th birthday, was taken to hospital with torn ligaments in his left shoulder after tripping while fielding in the 11th over. Officials said the injury was serious enough to require surgery.

Team physiotherapist Alex Kontouri, who accompanied Muralitharan to hospital, said the shoulder was not dislocated, but he was consulting a doctor in Australia for immediate surgery on the torn ligaments.

"We want Muralitharan to have the surgery as quick as possible and may send him to Australia soon," said Sri Lankan cricket official Michael Tissera.

Officials, however, refused to say if Muralitharan will be available for the three-Test series against England starting on May 17 - exactly a month from now.

With Muralitharan out of the way, the Pakistani batsmen made merry. Youhana hit eight boundaries and three sixes and opener Imran Nazir smashed 63 off 61 balls, but it was Younis Khan's 66 off 71 balls and his 155-run stand for the fifth wicket with Youhana that enabled Pakistan build a huge score.

Fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis grabbed three wickets each and Wasim Akram claimed two as the shell-shocked Sri Lankan batsmen fell like ninepins against some hostile pace bowling.

Sri Lanka had started well, reaching 52 for 1, when they lost four wickets in as many overs to ensure a certain victory for Pakistan.

Two wickets each by Shoaib and Wasim reduced Sri Lanka to 57-5 by the 13th over and, with the top order gone, the later batsmen proved easy meat.

Shoaib forced Sanath Jayasuriya (19) to top-edge a hook in his first over, and then had Kumar Sangakkara caught behind by wicketkeeper Rashid Latif.

Akram, who had earlier bowled Marvan Atapattu, trapped pinch-hitter Chaminda Vaas leg-before, while Waqar clean-bowled Mahela Jayawardene for a duck.

Pakistan had themselves recovered from the loss of opener Shahid Afridi and Latif by the seventh over to set Sri Lanka a challenging target of almost six runs an over.

Youhana and Nazir put on 85 for the third wicket, before Pakistan slipped again when Nazir was bowled in Upul Chandana's first over and Inzamam-ul Haq was run out for 12.

Younis and Youhana, however, flayed the depleted Sri Lankan attack as Muralitharan watched haplessly from the dressing room after returning from hospital.

Nuwan Zoysa, who removed both Youhana and Younis off consecutive balls in the final over, finished with 3 for 63. But Abdul Razzaq prevented a hat-trick by smashing the last ball to the boundary.

Teams
Pakistan 1 Imran Nazir, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Abdur Razzaq, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq, 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Younis Khan, 7 Rashid Latif (wk), 8 Wasim Akram, 9 Waqar Younis (capt), 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Saqlain Mushtaq.

Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Russel Arnold, 6 Upul Chandana, 7 Chaminda Vaas, 8 Kumar Dharmasena, 9 Charitha Buddika, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

Umpires David Shepherd (England), Russel Tiffin (Zimbabwe). TV umpire: Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India).

Referee Gundappa Viswanath (India).

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