Matheesha Pathirana’s superb 4-wicket haul handed the second successive loss to the Kandy Falcons, as the Colombo Strikers secured a thrilling 2-run win in the 7th match of the LPL 2024, played at Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium.
After being put into bat first by the Kandy Falcons, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Angelo Perera got off to a flying start as the Colombo Strikers went past the 50-run mark off just 19 balls.
Shoriful Islam made the much-needed breakthrough as Gurbaz (20 off 10) holed out to deep mid-wicket in the 4th over. After playing a handy knock, Perera fell to Chathuranga De Silva for a 23-ball 38. The Strikers brought up their 100 in 10.2 overs before Samarawickrama perished in the next over.
Phillips, who came after the first wicket going down, was going along nicely and notched up his maiden half-century in LPL with a couple of maximums against the Skipper Hasaranga. Wellalage, who was promoted up to No. 5 today, was unfortunately not able to make any impact as Hasaranga trapped him in front.
Skipper Perera greeted his opposition Skipper with a six immediately before the latter knocked him over the very next delivery. Phillips wanted to have a move on but fell to Chameera after trying to hit him for the second consecutive six as he cracked a 43-ball 70 which consisted of 6 fours & 3 sixes.
However, some superb cameos from Shadab Khan (23* off 12) and Chamika Karunaratne (13 off 5) helped the Colombo Strikers to finish with a massive 199/9 in their 20 overs.
Chameera managed to pick 3 wickets despite being expensive, while Hasaranga and Shoriful shared 4 wickets between them.
Taskin Ahmed who was playing his first game in LPL, drew first blood for the Strikers, shattering the stumps of Chandimal. In a tough chase, the Kandy side only managed to score only 44 runs in the powerplay.
When Haris was on 9, he mistimed a loft to sweeper cover where Karunaratne plucked a one-handed stunner to his right. However, the batter got another life with the TV umpire deciding that catch was not in complete control as it has been ruled out in favour of the batter.
Fletcher and Haris brought them back into this game with a brilliant 95-run stand for the 2nd wicket, within just 54 deliveries. Finally, Shadab broke that partnership with the wicket of Fletcher for 47, and Pathirana struck to dismiss the well-set Haris for 56 in the next over.
Kamindu Mendis looked dangerous right from the start as he smashed a 16-ball 36 before falling to Pathirana in the 17th over. The slinger turned the tables, getting the wickets of Shanaka and Hasaranga for 2 ducks in the same over.
When Kandy needed 23 from the last 2 overs, Pathirana conceded only 2 singles in the penultimate over which made even tougher for the Falcons.
Skipper Perera trusted himself to bowl the final over and he got the perfect start with the wicket of Chathuranga De Silva, before conceding only a single off the second delivery.
However, Mathews was not going down without a fight as he hit 6, 4 and 6 in the next three deliveries which made 3 from the final ball to win. The former was run out after only managing to hit back to the bowler, as Colombo Strikers sealed a 2-run win.
Pathirana was just too good with the ball in hand, finishing with 4/26 as he was adjudged as the Player of the Match.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | c Kamindu Mendis b Shoriful Islam | 20 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 200.00 |
| Angelo Perera | c Andre Fletcher b Chaturanga de Silva | 38 | 23 | 3 | 2 | 165.22 |
| Glenn Phillips | c Mohammad Haris b Dushmantha Chameera | 70 | 43 | 6 | 3 | 162.79 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | c Dasun Shanaka b Dushmantha Chameera | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 71.43 |
| Dunith Wellalage | lbw b Wanindu Hasaranga | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Thisara Perera | b Wanindu Hasaranga | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 300.00 |
| Shadab Khan | c & b Dasun Shanaka | 23 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 191.67 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | c Dushmantha Chameera b Shoriful Islam | 13 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 260.00 |
| Shoriful Islam | c Wanindu Hasaranga b Dushmantha Chameera | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 233.33 |
| Matheesha Pathirana | not out | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Garuka Sanketh | not out | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Extras | 8 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 4, pen 0) |
| Total | 199/9 (20 Overs, RR: 9.95) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angelo Mathews | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7.00 | |
| Shoriful Islam | 4 | 0 | 43 | 2 | 10.75 | |
| Chaturanga de Silva | 4 | 0 | 48 | 1 | 12.00 | |
| Dushmantha Chameera | 4 | 0 | 40 | 3 | 10.00 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 3 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 6.67 | |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 4 | 0 | 37 | 2 | 9.25 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinesh Chandimal | b Taskin Ahmed | 12 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 133.33 |
| Andre Fletcher | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Shadab Khan | 47 | 36 | 5 | 2 | 130.56 |
| Mohammad Haris | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Matheesha Pathirana | 56 | 32 | 5 | 4 | 175.00 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Matheesha Pathirana | 36 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 225.00 |
| Angelo Mathews | run out (Thisara Perera) | 33 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 235.71 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Shadab Khan b Matheesha Pathirana | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | b Matheesha Pathirana | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Chaturanga de Silva | c Dunith Wellalage b Thisara Perera | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 37.50 |
| Pavan Rathnayake | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 9 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 7, pen 0) |
| Total | 197/8 (20 Overs, RR: 9.85) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taskin Ahmed | 4 | 0 | 30 | 1 | 7.50 | |
| Dunith Wellalage | 3 | 0 | 43 | 0 | 14.33 | |
| Garuka Sanketh | 4 | 0 | 57 | 0 | 14.25 | |
| Thisara Perera | 2 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 9.00 | |
| Matheesha Pathirana | 4 | 0 | 26 | 4 | 6.50 | |
| Shadab Khan | 3 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 7.00 | |
