The very first “Battle of the Kings” encounter between two leading University teams, Edulink International Campus Colombo and SAITM Campus Malabe was held yesterday, the 3rd of April at the KDU Grounds Ratmalana.
Edulink won the toss and chose to field first. It was the first 50 over encounter game played between both the teams.
Starting with the bat, SAITM did not look too good at first. The two opening batsmen Shashika and Shainy did not stay at the wicket for long. They put on a partnership of 30 runs for the 1st wicket. Sachintha struck early with the ball, breaking the first wicket partnership when he dismissed Shainy for 11. After the initial breakthrough, wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Isaac Suppiah, the magical spinner of the side took the wickets of Shashika, Dilusha, Lishan and Asanka. Only Shashika was able to get to the 20 run mark as all the other batters fell cheaply.
SAITM needed to get a partnership going to keep the score ticking over as they had plenty of overs to put a good score up. They batted extremely cautiously and even the running between the wickets was poor. Dilshan, another spinner in the line-up put more pressure on the batsmen by picking up 2 crucial wickets in the middle overs. The other bowlers too were able to support the two main spinners and the SAITM batsmen wilted under the pressure. They were ultimately bowled out for just 100 runs in 37.5 overs.
Edulink came to bat with a lot of hopes, knowing they were chasing a small total. The two opening batsmen Dilshan and Kavishka gave them a blistering start, with Kavishka starting with the big hits from the first over itself. At 30/0 in just 3 overs, Kavishka was dismissed for 15 by Marasinghe. After a few overs of sensible batting Dilshan walked back to the pavilion scoring 8 runs. The two new batsmen at the crease were Venusara and Sachintha; they had a good start and had enough overs to chase the target. The only worry for Edulink was that they had lost a couple of early wickets; they needed a stable partnership to ensure that they did not fall apart like SAITM had in the 1st innings. Venusara kept rotating the strike and moving the scoreboard along while Sachintha looked fearless with his shots, clearing the boundary line with ease. The pair put on a 50 run partnership, making their chase a comfortable one.
The man in form Venusara got out with just 8 runs needed for victory, making 28 runs to bring his team close to the doors of victory. Captain Nuwan walked in next but he didn’t have to do much as the job was nearly finished when he came into bat; Sachintha finished the game with back to back boundaries, finishing on 27 not out. EIC was impressive in both departments and easily emerged victorious, finishing the game in just over 16 overs for the loss of just 3 wickets. Isaac Suppiah was the man of the match for his brilliant bowling, picking up 4 crucial wickets.
