In the sixth encounter of the Lanka Premier League Season 3, the two unbeaten teams after the end of the Hambantota leg locked horns to begin the leg at Pallekele. In a last over thriller, it was the Kandy Falcons who overcame the Jaffna Kings to keep their unbeaten streak alive.
Kandy Falcons skipper Wanindu Hasaranga who won the toss decided to chase on this Pallekele surface. Kings openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Avishka Fernando managed to get them off to a flyer as they were 38 for no loss after 4 overs. But Fabian Allen knocked Gurbaz over in his first delivery to end the opening stand.
After that Kings lost regular wickets as there were no notable partnerships for them. Fernando who tried to keep the Kings innings together got out in the 12th over for 31 as they were 80/4. After his dismissal, Shoaib Malik and Dunith Wellalage constructed a 45 run stand in 33 balls before the youngster Wellalage departed after making 20.
Malik also got out in the next over which clearly derailed their progress as Kings could only make 147 for the loss of 7 wickets in their 20 overs. Allen, Hasaranga and Isuru Udana all took 2 wickets each for the Falcons
The chase for the Falcons started off strong as they made 54 runs in the powerplay after losing just 2 wickets. But with the introduction of the spin twins, Wellalage and Vijaykanth Viyaskanth, the job at hand for the Falcons got harder as Kings started to build momentum with regular wickets. The young spin duo took 3 wickets for just 36 runs in 8 overs between them (Wellalage 2/17 and Viyaskanth 1/19) as all the advantage shifted to the Kings with the Falcons reduced to 96/6 in the 15th over.
But Ashen Bandara and Chamika Karunaratne turned the tide towards Falcons once again. With 31 required off 2 overs they claimed 15 runs in the penultimate over giving them a target of 16 in the final over. But it was at this point that things got interesting as Falcons anchor Bandara who was on 44 decided to retire out giving Isuru Udana the opportunity to come and have a swing in the final over.
James Fuller was given the responsibility of bowling the final over with Karunaratne on strike. Karunaratne who was on 13 off 12, needed something special to take Falcons home and to find some form for himself with everything happening around him. And he took this opportunity with both hands as he struck two back to back sixes to begin the final over. One over Long on and the next which is the best of the day which he scythed over the backward point fence.
With just 4 runs needed in 4 balls, it looked game over for the Kings but Fuller made a strong comeback to give away just 3 runs in the next 3 balls making it 1 off 1. In the final delivery, Udana went for a wild swing which he missed completely but they decided to run anyway as Kings wicketkeeper Sadeera Samarawickrama missed the striker’s end stumps while Fuller missed the non-striker’s end stumps as Falcons reached home in the last ball of the game.
With this win, Falcons have now played 3 and won 3 making them number 1 as the only unbeaten side in the tournament. Karunaratne, who lost four teeth a few days back, made a strong comeback today to take 2 catches and provide the finishing touches for his team with a brilliant cameo of 26 off 16 to win the player of the match award.
Jaffna Kings – 147/7 (20)
Avishka Fernando 31, Shoaib Malik 28, Dunith Wellalage 20
Fabian Allen 2/23, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/26, Isuru Udana 2/32
Kandy Falcons 148/7 (20)
Ashen Bandara 44 r.o, Pathum Nissanka 29, Chamika Karunaratne 26*
Dunith Wellalage 2/17, Vijaykanth Viyaskanth 1/19, Maheesh Theekshana 1/29
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | b Fabian Allen | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 123.08 |
| Avishka Fernando | c Zahoor Khan b Wanidu Hasaranga | 31 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 119.23 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | lbw b Wanidu Hasaranga | 10 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 71.43 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | b Fabian Allen | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 116.67 |
| Shoaib Malik | c Chamika Karunaratne b Isuru Udana | 28 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 116.67 |
| Dunith wellalage | c Chamika Karunaratne b Zahoor Khan | 20 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 111.11 |
| Thisara Perera | not out | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 133.33 |
| James Fuller | c Ashen Bandara b Isuru Udana | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 133.33 |
| Vijayakanth Viyaskanth | not out | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 75.00 |
| Extras | 13 (b 4 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 8, pen 0) |
| Total | 147/7 (20 Overs, RR: 7.35) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zahoor Khan | 4 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 7.00 | |
| Carlos Brathwaite | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 9.50 | |
| Isuru Udana | 4 | 0 | 32 | 2 | 8.00 | |
| Fabian Allen | 4 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 5.75 | |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | 4 | 0 | 26 | 2 | 6.50 | |
| Kamindu Mendis | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Dunith wellalage | 29 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 120.83 |
| Andre Fletcher | c Avishka Fernando b Zaman Khan | 11 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b James Fuller | 19 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 211.11 |
| Ashen Bandara | not out | 44 | 39 | 3 | 0 | 112.82 |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | b Dunith wellalage | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Fabian Allen | c Thisara Perera b Vijayakanth Viyaskanth | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Carlos Brathwaite | c & b | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | not out | 26 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 162.50 |
| Isuru Udana | not out | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Extras | 9 (b 2 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 3, pen 0) |
| Total | 148/6 (20 Overs, RR: 7.4) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thisara Perera | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Mahesh Theekshana | 4 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 7.25 | |
| Zaman Khan | 3 | 0 | 36 | 1 | 12.00 | |
| James Fuller | 4 | 0 | 35 | 1 | 8.75 | |
| Vijayakanth Viyaskanth | 4 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 4.75 | |
| Dunith wellalage | 4 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 4.25 | |
