Form of Avishka and Kusal augurs well for Sri Lanka

Injury to Kusal Perera and poor form of Avishka Fernando has seen them not being able to earn a spot in the Sri Lankan team in recent months. But both players were in good nick as Dambulla Aura pulled off an upset win over defending champions Jaffna Kings in an LPL clash on Tuesday at RPS.

Chasing Jaffna Kings’ modest target of 130, Dambulla Aura won with eight wickets and more than three overs to spare.

Avishka Fernando, a hard-hitting opening batsman, top scored with 52 runs that came off 32 balls with six fours and three sixes while adding 76 runs for the first wicket in just 49 balls. Captain Kusal Mendis made 29.

Kusal Perera then helped his team race to victory smashing 34 off 22 balls with three fours and two sixes.

It was a rare poor performance by Jaffna Kings, who despite getting off to a good start failed to make a competitive total.

Jaffna were 75 for one in the 12th over and they should have looked to double that total at least but they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and managed only 129 in their 20 overs.

Charith Asalanka had given them a solid start posting 56 off 52 balls with five fours and one six, but the team’s big hitters like David ‘killer’ Miller and Thisara Perera failed to make an impact.

Dambulla may not have the most resourceful team, but they seem to be getting their pieces together and could be a team to watch in the competition, especially after such a big performance against the team that had won the title three times.

Meanwhile in the second game of the day, B-Love Kandy suffered an embarrassing 83 run loss at the hands of Galle Titans.

International stars Tim Seifert and Shakib-al-Hasan added 95 runs for the fourth wicket in just 51 balls showcasing Galle’s batting depth. The Kiwi did most of the damage as he hit 74 off 39 balls with five fours and five sixes while the Bangladeshi scored 30 off 21 balls.

There’s so much said about the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis’ ability to bowl right-arm off-spin and left-arm orthodox spin.  But this game proved that Kamindu has lot of work to do with his bowling as he had little control with his off-spin and Shakib duly punished them with back-to-back sixes.

The 180 that Galle Titans made was an above par total and B-Love Kandy’s reply never had any momentum.

There were just three double figure scores in their innings as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Richard Ngarava, Tabraiz Shamsi, Shakib Al Hasan all finished with two wickets apiece, but the pick of the bowlers was Kasun Rajitha, whose two overs just cost eight runs and in those two overs he had dismissed Dinesh Chandimal and Kamindu Mendis.

In the end, B-Love Kandy were shot out for just 97 runs inside 18 overs and this loss could come back to hurt them as their Net Run Rate took a severe beating.

Brief Scores:

Galle Titans vs B-Love Kandy

Galle Titans

180-5 (20)

(Shevon Daniel 25, Tim Seifert 74, Shakib-al-Hasan 30, Mohammad Hasnain 1-26)

B-Love Kandy

97 all out (17.1)

(Ashen Bandara 27, Kasun Rajitha 2-8, Shakib-al-Hasan 2-10, Richard Ngarava 2-15)

Result: Galle Titans beat B-Love Kandy by 83 runs

Jaffna Kings

versus Dambulla Aura

Jaffna Kings

129-7 (20)

(Charith Asalanka 56, Towhid Hridoy 24, Binura Fernando 2-27, Dhananjaya de Silva 1-17)

Dambulla Aura

(Avishka Fernando 52, Kusal Mendis 29, Kusal Perera 32*, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 1-24)

Result:

Dambulla Aura beat Jaffna Kings by eight wickets