Galle Gladiators managed to beat Colombo Kings in a nail-biter at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, to secure their spot in the final of the inaugural Lanka Premier League 2020.
Photos – Colombo Kings vs Galle Gladiators – 1st Semi-Final 2020 | LPL 2020
The game was headlined by many injuries for Colombo kings, but it was the 22-year-old youngster Dhananjaya Lakshan who grabbed the limelight as he guided the Gladiators to a memorable win in the last over.
The skipper of Galle Gladiators Bhanuka Rajapaksa won the toss and invited Angelo Mathews’ Colombo Kings to bat first with only one change to their playing XI in the all-important game against tournament favorites Colombo Kings.
Team Changes
Galle Gladiators | In – Chanaka Ruwansiri | Out – Hazratullah Zazai
Colombo Kings | In – I Udana, A Russell, A Aponso | Out -L Evans, H Ramanayake, T Kaushal
Galle Gladiators opening seamers, Nuwan Thushara and Mohammad Amir set the tone again for the rest of the innings, by restricting Colombo Kings inside the powerplay overs. Lahiru Udara and Dinesh Chandimal couldn’t find the boundaries as they usually do and fell eventually, without making a significant contribution. The dismissal of Dinesh Chandimal deserves a special mention as young Dhananjaya Lakshan produced a peach of delivery, a perfect inswinger to knock down the leg stump of Chandimal.
Number three batsman for the Kings, Englishman Daniel-Bell Drummond was the only one to go past 20 in the Kings’ bench as he made a much needed half century for his franchise which was missing their highest runs scorer Laurie Evans. Drummond added 70 runs thanks to 3 failures in the field by Gladiators, 2 dropped catches by Chanaka Ruwansiri and a missed run-out chance by Ahsan Ali.
The dangerous Andre Russell was dismissed again by the chinaman Lakshan Sandakan as he went on to claim 2 more scalps in his 4 over quota. Gladiators’ bowling unit exhibited another disciplined effort, particularly from the three seamers, Amir, Thushara and Dhananjaya, as they restricted the Kings to a below par score of 149.
Read : Qais Ahmad tonks Kings to the top!
The star batsman of the tournament Danushka Gunathilaka couldn’t succeed today as he fell into a trap set by Angelo Mathews, trying to clear the off spinner Ashan Priyanjan over mid-wicket; he found the hands of Qais Ahmed who was stationed there for that exact mistake from the batsman.
The Gladiators’ top order batsmen kept the run rate in check by finding the boundaries regularly but gifted their wickets when the situation was under controll. Azam Khan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa were the culprits who threw their wickets away trying to be greedy, bringing the Kings back into the game.
On the other hand, Colombo King’s bench was busy as they had to send reserve players to the field.
- Andre Russell – Injured – didn’t bowl any overs
- Angelo Mathews – Injured – didn’t bowl his last over
- Qais Ahmed – injured – bowled 4 overs but went off the field regularly
- Isuru Udana – Injured – had to bowl his last two overs carrying an injury
Even though the bowling team was short of premier bowlers due to injuries, the Gladiators batsmen somehow found ways to gift their wickets as the required equation got tighter, ball by ball. Fortunately, Dhananjaya Lakshan was there at the other end to guide the Gladiators, with a calm 31 off 23 balls.
The team from the South needed 15 from the last over off a limping Udana and they managed to achieve the target with one ball left. However, Dhananjaya Lakshan was dropped by Qais Ahmed in the very last over before he hit a six over long-off off Udana, which could have turned the game. It was Lakshan Sandakan who hit the winning runs when the equation was reduced to 4 off 2 balls.
Gladiators will meet the winner of the next semifinal which will be played between Dambulla Viiking and Jaffna Stallions on 14th December, starting at 7pm at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium.
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Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lahiru Udara | c Ahsan Ali b Nuwan Thushara | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | Ahsan Ali b Dhananjaya Lakshan | 14 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 140.00 |
| Daniel Bell Drummond | c Bhanuka Rajapakse b Shehan Jayasuriya | 70 | 53 | 7 | 3 | 132.08 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Shehan Jayasuriya b Lakshan Sandakan | 6 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 54.55 |
| Andre Russell | c Azam Khan b Lakshan Sandakan | 11 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 183.33 |
| Ashan Priyanjan | c Bhanuka Rajapakse b Lakshan Sandakan | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Thikshila de silva | c Chanaka Ruwansiri b Dhananjaya Lakshan | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 75.00 |
| Qais Ahmed | c Mohammad Amir b Nuwan Thushara | 8 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 200.00 |
| Isuru Udana | c Shehan Jayasuriya b Sahan Arachchige | 19 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 172.73 |
| Dushmantha Chameera | not out | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Extras | 5 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 4, pen 0) |
| Total | 150/9 (20 Overs, RR: 7.5) |
| Did not bat | Amila Aponso, |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-3 (1.1) Lahiru Udara, 2-32 (5.3) Dinesh Chandimal, 3-57 (9.4) Angelo Mathews, 4-75 (11.3) Andre Russell, 5-99 (13.6) Ashan Priyanjan, 6-112 (15.4) Daniel Bell Drummond, 7-123 (16.3) Qais Ahmed, 8-126 (17.2) Thikshila de silva, 9-150 (19.6) Isuru Udana, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammad Amir | 4 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 6.50 | |
| Nuwan Thushara | 4 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 6.75 | |
| Dhananjaya Lakshan | 4 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 6.75 | |
| Lakshan Sandakan | 4 | 0 | 32 | 3 | 8.00 | |
| Sahan Arachchige | 3 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 7.00 | |
| Shehan Jayasuriya | 1 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 16.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahsan Ali | b Angelo Mathews | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Danushka Gunathilaka | c Qais Ahmed b Ashan Priyanjan | 13 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 162.50 |
| Bhanuka Rajapakse | st Dinesh Chandimal b Ashan Priyanjan | 33 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 183.33 |
| Azam Khan | c Isuru Udana b Dushmantha Chameera | 21 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 161.54 |
| Sahan Arachchige | run out (Angelo Mathews) | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Shehan Jayasuriya | run out (Tharindu Kaushal) | 22 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 91.67 |
| Chanaka Ruwansiri | c Lahiru Udara b Qais Ahmed | 9 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 64.29 |
| Dhananjaya Lakshan | not out | 31 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 134.78 |
| Mohammad Amir | c Ashan Priyanjan b Thikshila de silva | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Lakshan Sandakan | not out | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 400.00 |
| Extras | 7 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 6, pen 0) |
| Total | 151/8 (19.5 Overs, RR: 7.61) |
| Did not bat | Nuwan Thushara, |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-13 (1.5) Danushka Gunathilaka, 2-17 (2.2) Ahsan Ali, 3-57 (5.6) Azam Khan, 4-75 (8.2) Bhanuka Rajapakse, 5-75 (8.3) Sahan Arachchige, 6-98 (12.6) Chanaka Ruwansiri, 7-116 (15.6) Shehan Jayasuriya, 8-136 (18.6) Mohammad Amir, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angelo Mathews | 3.1 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 5.48 | |
| Ashan Priyanjan | 4 | 0 | 42 | 1 | 10.50 | |
| Isuru Udana | 3.5 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 7.43 | |
| Dushmantha Chameera | 3.5 | 0 | 36 | 1 | 10.29 | |
| Qais Ahmed | 4 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 6.75 | |
| Thikshila de silva | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2.00 | |
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