Wanindu Hasaranga’s all-round performance helped Kandy Falcons finish the league stage with a win over Dambulla Sixers to stay alive in the competition.
Sonal Dinusha, playing his first game this season, took an early wicket for Dambulla after opting to bowl first. Chandimal was initially given out LBW, and did not bother with the review, but ball-tracking revealed it was missing the stumps.
Fletcher kept the Falcons at a good rate, completing a 30-ball half-century while Haris (24 off 13) and Hasaranga (25 off 12) chipped in with some valuable cameos. The spiceman was dismissed after making a 34-ball 60 while hitting a four & seven sixes.
Then, Kamindu Mendis and Angelo Mathews provided them a grand finish, smashing 79 runs in the final five overs as Kandy Falcons posted the highest LPL score of 222/4 at R. Premadasa.
Mendis blasted an unbeaten 51 runs in 24 balls and the veteran smoked five maximums with four of them coming in the first 4 balls of the final over against young Wickramasinghe as he remained not out on 44 off 23.
On the other hand, Hemantha was absolute gold dust as he finished with 3/14 when the rest of the Dambulla bowlers were taken to the cleaners.
Chasing a mammoth target, the Sixers were restricted to 47 for 3 in 5.1 overs. Kusal Perera scored a fighting half-century, but did not get the support he needed from the other end.
Hasaranga bowled brilliant three overs in the middle phase picking up the wickets of Chapman (24 off 19) as well as his opposite captain in the 12th over. Perera stroked a 40-ball 74 before becoming his third victim.
The Sixers’ low-order put up some fight, but the target was too much to chase down as they eventually ended up with 168/9, handing a 54-run victory for the defending champions.
Falcons skipper finished with 4/35 while Shanaka also impressed again, claiming three wickets for 29. With this big win here, they just kept themselves alive in the tournament, climbing up to fourth in the points table and will have to wait for Dambulla to lose their last game.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinesh Chandimal | lbw b Sonal Dinusha | 12 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 85.71 |
| Andre Fletcher | c & b Dushan Hemantha | 60 | 34 | 1 | 7 | 176.47 |
| Mohammad Haris | c Mohammad Nabi b Dushan Hemantha | 24 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 184.62 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | c Kusal Perera b Dushan Hemantha | 25 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 208.33 |
| Kamindu Mendis | not out | 51 | 24 | 5 | 2 | 212.50 |
| Angelo Mathews | not out | 44 | 23 | 0 | 5 | 191.30 |
| Extras | 6 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 222/4 (20 Overs, RR: 11.1) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuwan Thushara | 4 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 9.00 | |
| Dilshan Madushanka | 4 | 0 | 43 | 0 | 10.75 | |
| Sonal Dinusha | 3 | 0 | 39 | 1 | 13.00 | |
| Dushan Hemantha | 4 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 3.50 | |
| Mohammad Nabi | 3 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 14.00 | |
| Chamindu Wickramasinghe | 2 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 22.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reeza Hendricks | c Chaturanga de Silva b Dasun Shanaka | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Kusal Perera | c Mohammad Hasnain b Wanindu Hasaranga | 74 | 40 | 5 | 5 | 185.00 |
| Ibrahim Zadran | c Chamath Gomez b Mohammad Hasnain | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Lahiru Udara | c Chaturanga de Silva b Dasun Shanaka | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Mark Chapman | c & b Wanindu Hasaranga | 24 | 19 | 4 | 0 | 126.32 |
| Mohammad Nabi | c Angelo Mathews b Wanindu Hasaranga | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 42.86 |
| Sonal Dinusha | c Wanindu Hasaranga b Dasun Shanaka | 17 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 106.25 |
| Chamindu Wickramasinghe | c & b Wanindu Hasaranga | 18 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 138.46 |
| Dushan Hemantha | st Dinesh Chandimal b Chaturanga de Silva | 17 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 170.00 |
| Dilshan Madushanka | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Nuwan Thushara | not out | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Extras | 7 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 5, pen 0) |
| Total | 168/9 (20 Overs, RR: 8.4) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angelo Mathews | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8.00 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 4 | 0 | 29 | 3 | 7.25 | |
| Mohammad Hasnain | 4 | 0 | 31 | 1 | 7.75 | |
| Ramesh Mendis | 4 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 6.25 | |
| Kamindu Mendis | 2 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 14.50 | |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 4 | 0 | 35 | 4 | 8.75 | |
| Chaturanga de Silva | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 9.00 | |
