Dhananjaya Lakshan of Galle Gladiators provided one of the most memorable performances in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) T20 Cricket Tournament during a high-profile semi-final encounter against Colombo Kings at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Hambantota on Sunday.
The 22-year-old all-rounder produced a Man-of-the-Match winning performance while claiming two for 27 and then smashed an unbeaten 31 to steer his team to an exciting victory with one delivery to spare. The former Sri Lanka Under-19 player and former schoolboy of Richmond College commended the Galle Gladiators Team Management and Head Coach, Moin Khan for giving him this opportunity to showcase his capabilities.
“I came in to this tournament as a reserve player and I must thank my coach for selecting me for this important encounter. This is a huge achievement for me to play a match-winning knock and to bag the Man-of-the-Match award in a semi-final,” Lakshan told after his batting heroics. Lakshan of course, realised the match-situation when he walked into bat and the setting was absolutely ideal for him to leave a lasting impression and carry his team towards the final.
“Winning the match for my team was always in my mind, although I was the last recognised batsman in the line-up. So, I wanted to take the match until the last over of the innings and see how it goes before taking a risk,” he explained.
Lakshan’s task became even more difficult as he did not receive the much desired support from the other tailenders.
“I was bit disappointed that my partner at the other end, Mohammad Amir could not get off-strike at that stage and I was forced to take a risk to keep the momentum going. I was also bit lucky with a vital catch going begging in the last over,” he smiled.
However, Lakshan was thinking about a last-ball six or a boundary to finish off the game and all he wanted was the strike to accomplish his goal in a spectacular manner.
“I wanted to finish off the game in the last ball and asked my partner, Lakshan Sandakan to leave the job to me but fortunately he did the needful by hitting a boundary,” Lakshan revealed.
Meanwhile, Gladiators Skipper, Bhanuka Rajapaksa revealed that Lakshan’s batting performance turned the game in their favour after they had lost too many early wickets during the run-chase.
“It is a miracle that we got through from the stage that we were initially. Lakshan showed a lot of maturity in the middle and in the end we came through. We lost wickets and that set us back but credit goes to Lakshan and for Sandakan for the match-winning boundary,” Rajapaksa said.
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