Dambulla Viiking will face Jaffna Stallions in a do or die battle in their second semi final of the ‘My11Circle’ Lanka Premier League(LPL) cricket tournament commencing at 7 p.m. today at the MRICS, Hambantota.
Both teams after losing their penultimate round robin matches to Colombo Kings, remain pumped up and are hoping to put up a belligerent performance to reserve a berth in the all-important grand finale on Wednesday under lights.
All-rounder Dasun Shanaka’s Dambulla Viiking went on to pile up a mammoth 203 in their allotted overs before their dreams were shattered by a scintillating all round performance by Qais Ahamed of Colombo Kings, who initially put the skids with two valuable wickets later went on lambasting the rival bowling by scoring 24 runs in one over to guide him team to an unexpected victory. The Dambulla guys will play sans their regular opening batsman Oshada Fernando who is still nursing a twisted knee in the curtain raiser match.
According to Dasun Shanaka, who spoke to the media on a zoom conference call said that he was very happy to see some of his batsmen getting into form well before this stage of the tournament, which is a very good sign as a team. “We as a team are extremely happy and delighted to see some of our top order batsmen get into rhythm with bat and contributed immensely at
crucial times in posting big challenging totals. We wanted to experiment with some of the lads who were on the bench which we did in the last few matches. Moreover, we have an idea of each player’s ability and what should be our team composition for Monday’s game.” Said Shanaka.
“We as youth players are extremely thankful to Sri Lanka Cricket for organizing a tournament of this nature under difficult circumstances, which has given us a great opportunity to get conducive for this format of the game. This also enabled us to unearth the potential and the talent of youth players which was available in the country, which is a very positive sign for the game and for the future of Sri Lanka cricket. As a team we have drawn up some plans against our rival which we hope to execute well and to win the game today to embark to the grand final.” Concluded Shanaka..
On the other hand, Thisara Perera the other prolific all-rounder who has shown vast improvement in this tournament was not worried about losing the last few matches. He was also of the view that they had to test a few players before the big bash, which they did in the last few games, after they qualified for the semis. Even though there aren’t any big names in their ranks, Thisara was happy and confident with the progress of his team so far. His team possesses the highest wicket taker of the tournament Wanindu Hasaranga who has captured 13 wickets in eight games while chipping in with some quick-fire valuable knocks with the willow. The good news for them is that their dashing opening batsman Avishka Fernando and all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva who sustained injuries have fully recovered and are fit for this big game.
“I am very thankful to our franchise owners for signing in some young players who were unknown until this tournament. With the progress of the tournament we found the hidden talent of these boys which is a very good sign for Lankan cricket.
We too experimented with our second string of players before this game and found the right team combination.
Nevertheless, we know that at a big game like this no team cannot be underrated. Our opponents have a well-balanced side and we have studied their strengths and weaknesses. We will go all out to win this game and to get into the big final on Wednesday.” said Thisara Perera.
Today’s game will be played on a newly laid wicket and as a result both captains hinted that they will have a final look at the wicket before the game and pick their final playing eleven.
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