The Jaffna Kings got back to their winning ways today (8th August) by beating the Colombo Strikers in Match No. 13 of the Lanka Premier League 2023, played at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy.
Babar Azam took over captaincy with the absence of their regular Skipper Niroshan Dickwella due to an injury. They replaced Iftikhar Ahmad for Dickwella after opting to bat first. The Kings also made the change of bringing Nishan Madushka in for Vijayakanth Viyaskanth.
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Pathum Nissanka and stand-in Skipper Babar Azam opened the innings. They got to a flying start with Nissanka sending 4 balls of Thisara get first over to the boundary to got 17 off the first. In the 3rd over, he also smashed another 3 fours off Dilshan Madushanka.
After adding 57 runs for the opening wicket, Nissanka perished for 36. His knock came off 25 balls including 7 fours. Dilshan Madushanka provided the wicket of the tournament’s leading run-scorer Babar Azam for 24. Maheesh Theekshana took a smart catch to dismiss Nuwanidu Fernando in the same over.
Dunith Wellalage cleaned up Iftikhar Ahmad, reducing the Strikers to 4/69 after 10 overs. Lahiru Udara and Mohammad Nawaz added 30 runs before Lahiru Udara (29 off 25) was removed by Theekshana with a brilliant catch off his bowling.
Small contributions from Nawaz (27 off 20) and Chamika Karunaratne (21* off 18) saw them ending up with 146/8 in their 20 overs. On the bowling front, Dunith Wellalage was the star once again as he took 2/9 in 3 overs. Dilshan Madushanka too bowled really well today to pick 2/23. Apart from them, Maheesh Theekshana, Nuwan Thushara and Shoaib Malik finished with a wicket each.
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Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Nishan Madushka began the run-chase and raced to 50 in 4.5 overs. After giving a head start, Gurbaz chipped one to mid-wicket fielder off Matheesha Pathirana. The dashing opener scored a quickfire 39 facing 21 balls while he smashed 3 fours & 3 sixes.
Once again, Charith Asalanka struggled to get going as he scored 12 runs facing 15 balls. The Skipper Thisara Perera promoted himself up the order and smashed 17 off 7 before being castled by Naseem Shah. The Pakistani struck for the 2nd time in the over to clean up Madushka. The opener batted well for his 32-ball 46 which consisted of 3 fours & 3 sixes.
Towhid Hridoy scored 14 runs undefeated, which took the Jaffna Kings to a much-needed victory inside 15 overs. With the ball in hand, Naseem Shah bagged 2/22, while Matheesha Pathirana and Lakshan Sandakan shared a couple of wickets.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | lbw b Dunith Wellalage | 36 | 25 | 7 | 0 | 144.00 |
| Babar Azam | c David Miller b Dilshan Madushanka | 24 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 114.29 |
| Lahiru Udara | c & b Maheesh Theekshana | 29 | 25 | 2 | 1 | 116.00 |
| Nuwanidu Fernando | c Maheesh Theekshana b Dilshan Madushanka | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | b Dunith Wellalage | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | c Towhid Hridoy b Shoaib Malik | 27 | 20 | 3 | 1 | 135.00 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | not out | 21 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 116.67 |
| Ramesh Mendis | c David Miller b Nuwan Thushara | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Naseem Shah | run out (Nuwan Thushara) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Extras | 3 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 146/8 (20 Overs, RR: 7.3) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thisara Perera | 1 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 17.00 | |
| Maheesh Theekshana | 4 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 5.25 | |
| Dilshan Madushanka | 4 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 5.75 | |
| Nuwan Thushara | 4 | 0 | 37 | 1 | 9.25 | |
| Dunith Wellalage | 3 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 3.00 | |
| Shoaib Malik | 4 | 0 | 38 | 1 | 9.50 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nishan Madushka | b Naseem Shah | 46 | 32 | 3 | 3 | 143.75 |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | c Iftikhar Ahmed b Matheesha Pathirana | 39 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 185.71 |
| Charith Asalanka | c Iftikhar Ahmed b Lakshan Sandakan | 12 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Thisara Perera | b Naseem Shah | 17 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 242.86 |
| David Miller | not out | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Towhid Hridoy | not out | 14 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 155.56 |
| Extras | 21 (b 4 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 13, pen 0) |
| Total | 150/4 (14.3 Overs, RR: 10.34) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naseem Shah | 3.3 | 0 | 22 | 2 | 6.67 | |
| Mohammad Nawaz | 2 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 12.50 | |
| Chamika Karunaratne | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 12.00 | |
| Matheesha Pathirana | 3 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 9.00 | |
| Lakshan Sandakan | 3 | 0 | 30 | 1 | 10.00 | |
| Ramesh Mendis | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 14.00 | |
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 by beating the Colombo Strikers in Match No. 13 of the Lanka Premier League 2023, played at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy.){kind=link}