The Colombo Strikers bounced back to register their third win today (13th August) as they beat B – Love Kandy in Match No.17 of the Lanka Premier League 2023 at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
The Colombo Strikers stand-in Captain Chamika Karunaratne decided to bat first after winning the toss as they made two changes, adding Lahiru Udara and Nipun Dhananjaya for Niroshan Dickwella and Angelo Perera. Kandy made three changes as well to bring Ashen Bandara, Chathuranga De Silva and Mohommad Hasnain into the side in place of Dinesh Chandimal, Dushmantha Chameera and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
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Pathum Nissanka and Babar Azam came out as the openers but failed to give Colombo a good start, with veteran Angelo Mathews’ resurgence with the new-ball continuing to create problems. This time he got the wickets of Azam and Udara inside the powerplay which reduced them to 28/2.
Nipun Dhananjaya joined Nissanka and Colombo fought back with an excellent 69-run partnership between the two off just 46 balls for the 3rd wicket. Dhananjaya played a really good knock when the team needed him most, scoring a 29-ball 40.
Nissanka (51 off 38) scored another classical fifty before being dismissed by the opposition Captain Wanindu Hasaranga. In the very next delivery, Iftikhar Ahmad went for a golden duck as Hasaranga castled him with a googly.
Once again, Mohommad Nawaz struggled to get quick runs, managing to score only 21 runs facing 19 balls. However, the stand-in Skipper Chamika Karunaratne (17 off 9) and Nuwanidu Fernando (15 off 9) made some useful cameos as Colombo Strikers finished with 169/9 in 20 overs.
With the ball in hand, the Skipper Hasaranga bowled well scalping 2/21, while Mathews finished with 2/23 in 3 overs.
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In reply, B – Love Kandy got off to a really slow start and also lost 2 wickets inside the powerplay – Mohommad Haris and Sahan Arachchige. Fakhar Zaman was runout for 13 after a huge miscommunication with Wanindu Hasaranga.
Hasaranga’s brilliant run with the bat continued, as he went all gun blazing yet again to score a quick-fire 40 off 21 balls. His knock consisted of 6 fours and 1 six before Jeffrey Vandersay provided the wicket. Kandy lost their 5th wicket with only 92 runs on the board as Chamika Karunaratne got rid of Chathuranga De Silva (16 off 11).
Soon after, Vandersay struck for the 2nd time, removing Angelo Mathews for 11, reducing B – Love Kandy to 96/6 in 13.3 overs. However, Asif Ali and Ashen Bandara showed some fight, especially as Asif Ali cracked a few lusty blows. He smashed 33 runs off 15 deliveries, including 2 fours and 3 sixes before Matheesha Pathirana had the last laugh to clean him up.
With Kandy needing 26 runs to win in the last 2 overs, Naseem Shah and Matheesha Pathirana held their nerve, handing a 9-run win to their side. Pathirana and Vandersay picked up 2 wickets apiece while Naseem Shah, Iftikhar and Karunaratne also shared 3 wickets between them.
After suffering two massive losses, the Colombo Strikers were able to register their 3rd win which has kept their Play-Off hopes alive.
Pathum Nissanka was adjudged the Player of the Match for his sensational half-century.
Catch all the live action and the highlights of the ongoing Lanka Premier League 2023 on Sri Lanka’s No.1 Sports Hub – ThePapare.com.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Asif Ali b Wanindu Hasaranga | 51 | 38 | 4 | 1 | 134.21 |
| Babar Azam | c Mohammad Haris b Angelo Mathews | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 112.50 |
| Lahiru Udara | c Mohammad Haris b Angelo Mathews | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Nipun Dhananjaya | c Asif Ali b Wanindu Hasaranga | 40 | 29 | 1 | 3 | 137.93 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | c Wanindu Hasaranga b Nuwan Pradeep | 21 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 110.53 |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | b Wanindu Hasaranga | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | c Ashen Bandara b Isuru Udana | 17 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 188.89 |
| Nuwanidu Fernando | b Isuru Udana | 15 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 166.67 |
| Naseem Shah | run out (Isuru Udana) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Jeffrey Vandersay | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 9 (b 5 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 3, pen 0) |
| Total | 169/9 (20 Overs, RR: 8.45) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angelo Mathews | 3 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 7.67 | |
| Isuru Udana | 4 | 0 | 40 | 2 | 10.00 | |
| Mohammad Hasnain | 3 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 7.67 | |
| Chaturanga de Silva | 2 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 9.50 | |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 4 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 5.25 | |
| Nuwan Pradeep | 4 | 0 | 37 | 1 | 9.25 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammad Haris | c Ramesh Mendis b Naseem Shah | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Fakhar Zaman | run out (Matheesha Pathirana) | 11 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 78.57 |
| Sahan Arachchige | c & b Iftikhar Ahmed | 13 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 61.90 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | c Babar Azam b Jeffrey Vandersay | 40 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 200.00 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Iftikhar Ahmed b Jeffrey Vandersay | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 110.00 |
| Chaturanga de Silva | c Babar Azam b Chamika Karunaratne | 16 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 145.45 |
| Asif Ali | b Matheesha Pathirana | 33 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 220.00 |
| Ashen Bandara | b Matheesha Pathirana | 22 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 122.22 |
| Isuru Udana | not out | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Mohammad Hasnain | not out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 8 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 7, pen 0) |
| Total | 160/8 (20 Overs, RR: 8) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naseem Shah | 4 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 7.00 | |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | 4 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 6.25 | |
| Matheesha Pathirana | 4 | 0 | 32 | 2 | 8.00 | |
| Chamika Karunaratne | 3 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 8.33 | |
| Jeffrey Vandersay | 4 | 0 | 39 | 2 | 9.75 | |
| Mohammad Nawaz | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10.00 | |
 as they beat the B – Love Kandy in a thrilling Match No.17 of the Lanka Premier League 2023 at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo. ){kind=link}