Dambulla Viiking, who came in after a hurtful defeat, proved their worth with a thumping win against the Colombo Kings in the 7th match of Lanka Premier League 2020.
After winning the toss, Dasun Shanaka opted to bat with no hesitation. Teams batting first have won 4 out of the 6 games so far in the tournament. Although that stat does not exactly reflect the conditions at Hambantota, Dambulla Viiking had a major breakdown yesterday when they were given a mammoth score to chase, which must have contributed. It was a good toss to lose for Angelo Mathews, as he was preparing to bowl first anyway.
Unceasing top-order crisis of Dambulla Viiking
They keep losing wickets in clusters at the start of their innings. This issue has been hurting Dambulla since the start of the tournament. Niroshan Dickwella never really got off the clutches and lived upto what was expected from him.
Thisara Perera shoots out Dambulla Viiking
Paul Stirling is still struggling to get a measure of the conditions, and has scored only 3 runs off the 12 balls he has faced across two games up to now.
Upul Tharanga got a decent start in today’s game with some elegant cover-drives but failed to capitalise on it. He was unable to handle the serious pace from Dushmantha Chameera as he sent one high into the sky just to end up at short square-leg.
Shanaka-Patel salvation services
The duo has scored 56 percent of the total runs scored by Dambulla Viiking up to now, and are at the top two slots of their batting chart. Samit Patel scored a silent 30 runs off 27 deliveries, coming in at a difficult time with the scoreboard reading 2 wickets for 3 runs. He laid the foundation for their fightback.
Skipper Dasun Shanaka was yet again outstanding with the bat as the right-hander secured 56 runs off 34 balls in a fighting fashion. Thanks to Shanaka, the Viiking were able to post 175 runs on the board.
Terrible batting from the Kings
Except for the Englishman, Laurie Evans, none other batsmen scored over 20 runs. That alone should tell the story of the Colombo Kings batting unit. Evans scored a brilliant 59 runs but was trying one shot too many as he was bowled trying to loft Pulina Tharanga over mid-on for a six.
Tactical excellence from Viiking
The Viiking employed 4 leg-spinners in the team in this game. This decision was because the Kings had 10 right-handers in the line up, and the tactic worked perfectly for Dambulla. Kudos to the think tank – the legging shared 7 scalps among them including the biggest fish in the pool, Andre Russell.
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Russell tried to slap young Sachindu Colombage over mid-wicket but mis-timed it to the fielder on rope. Colombage was one of the 4 leggies, and this was also his debut for the Dambulla Viiking. Another exciting young leg-spinner, Pulina Tharanga, made his debut alongside Colombage. Pulina too was impressive on the field as he picked up 2 wickets for 31 runs.
Veteran Malinda Pushpakumara bowled a magnificent spell, picking up 2 wickets for just 19 runs with an amazing economy rate of 4.75.
It was a pretty disappointing outing for the Colombo Kings as they lost by 28 runs, but they still will remain ahead of the Viiking in the points table at No. 2, as the Viiking slotted themselves in as the third.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niroshan Dickwella | c Dinesh Chandimal b Angelo Mathews | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Paul Stirling | c Thikshila de silva b Isuru Udana | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Upul Tharanga | c Andre Russell b Dushmantha Chameera | 25 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 104.17 |
| Samit Patel | c Dinesh Chandimal b Dushmantha Chameera | 30 | 27 | 3 | 1 | 111.11 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Andre Russell b Isuru Udana | 56 | 34 | 3 | 4 | 164.71 |
| Angelo Perera | c Dinesh Chandimal b Isuru Udana | 21 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 131.25 |
| Anwar Ali | c Qais Ahmed b Andre Russell | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Pulina Tharanga | c & b Andre Russell | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Malinda Pushpakumara | not out | 11 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 366.67 |
| Sachindu Colambage | c Isuru Udana b Andre Russell | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 24 (b 0 , lb 5 , nb 1, w 18, pen 0) |
| Total | 175/9 (20 Overs, RR: 8.75) |
| Did not bat | Kasun Rajitha, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angelo Mathews | 2 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 7.00 | |
| Isuru Udana | 4 | 0 | 25 | 3 | 6.25 | |
| Dhammika Prasad | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 12.00 | |
| Qais Ahmed | 4 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 9.00 | |
| Ashan Priyanjan | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9.00 | |
| Jeffrey Vandersay | 1 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 17.00 | |
| Dushmantha Chameera | 4 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 6.75 | |
| Andre Russell | 2 | 0 | 18 | 3 | 9.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinesh Chandimal | c & b Samit Patel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Laurie Evans | b Pulina Tharanga | 59 | 33 | 5 | 4 | 178.79 |
| Thikshila de silva | c Paul Stirling b Kasun Rajitha | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Malinda Pushpakumara b Anwar Ali | 11 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 78.57 |
| Andre Russell | c Angelo Perera b Sachindu Colambage | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Ashan Priyanjan | c Angelo Perera b Malinda Pushpakumara | 11 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 91.67 |
| Isuru Udana | c Dasun Shanaka b Malinda Pushpakumara | 5 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 45.45 |
| Qais Ahmed | c Angelo Perera b Pulina Tharanga | 14 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 155.56 |
| Dhammika Prasad | st Niroshan Dickwella b Samit Patel | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 116.67 |
| Dushmantha Chameera | c Pulina Tharanga b Anwar Ali | 17 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 141.67 |
| Jeffrey Vandersay | not out | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 133.33 |
| Extras | 9 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 7, pen 0) |
| Total | 147/10 (18.4 Overs, RR: 7.88) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samit Patel | 4 | 0 | 30 | 2 | 7.50 | |
| Kasun Rajitha | 3 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 9.00 | |
| Malinda Pushpakumara | 4 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 4.75 | |
| Anwar Ali | 1.4 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 7.14 | |
| Sachindu Colambage | 3 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 9.33 | |
| Pulina Tharanga | 3 | 0 | 31 | 2 | 10.33 | |
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