The Galle Gladiators opened their account with a convincing eight-wicket win over the Colombo Kings in their Lanka Premier League (LPL) Twenty20 Franchise Cricket Tournament second-round fixture played at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Hambantota yesterday.
After restricting their opponents to 171 runs in 20 overs, the Gladiators then went about their task in style to reach their target with eight wickets and more than two overs to spare.
The Gladiators got off to a solid start with the openers Danushka Gunathilaka and Ahsan Ali putting on 97 runs in 10.3 overs. The latter went on to complete a fine half-century with the help of one six and nine boundaries. After both openers had departed in the space of eight deliveries, Skipper Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Azam Khan added the finishing touches with an unfinished third-wicket stand of 68 runs in five overs.
Earlier, Mohammad Amir took a superb five-wicket haul but could not prevent the Kings from reaching a challenging 171 from their 20 overs, after they had won the toss and elected to bat first.
The 28-year-old veteran left-arm seamer from Pakistan produced a magnificent spell of bowling to claim five for 26, the best bowling figures of the tournament so far.
Amir ran through the Kings middle order with some real hostile bowling with the back-up support coming from Lakshan Sandakan (3/33) and Dhananjaya Lakshan.
However, the Kings rallied around through their late order batsmen to recover during the latter stages with the all-rounders, Thikshila de Silva and Isuru Udana providing valuable contributions. Both Udana and De Silva collected their runs with the help of two sixes and one boundary as the Kings recovered from a middle-order collapse to reach a formidable score in the end.
This was after Daniel Bell-Drummond had hit a top score of 44 inclusive of one six and three boundaries. In addition, opener Dinesh Chandimal made 35 with two sixes and four boundaries before he became the first victim of Amir.
Chief scores:
Colombo Kings: 171 in 20 overs (Dinesh Chandimal 35, Thikshila de Silva 27, Isuru Udana 21, Mohammad Amir 5/26)
Galle Gladiators: 175/2 in 17.3 overs (Danushka Gunathilaka 38, Ahsan Ali 56, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 37 n.o, Azam Khan 35 n.o)
0 comments:
Post a Comment