Lanka Premier League, 3rd Match: Jaffna Kings Bagged 9-Wickets Victory Against Dambulla Giants
Dambulla Giants and Jaffna Kings squared off in the 3rd match of the Lanka Premier League on Wednesday, 7 December 2022. Dambulla Giants won the toss and opted to bat first but the decision didn’t go much in their favour. For Dambulla Giants, Jordan Cox and Shevon Daniel opened. Dambulla Aura got off to a very strong start, scoring a six off the first over. After that, Jordan Cox charged Dhananjaya de Silva and smacked three straight sixes to end the powerplay with 49 on the scoreboard. However, his dismissal set off a chain reaction, as both openers were dismissed in the space of two overs. Today, Sikandar Raza and Dasun Shanaka had trouble getting going as Jaffna’s spinners stood out in the middle overs. Rajapaksa attempted a few shots but again failed to connect with the leg spinner. Theekshana and leg spinner Viyaskanth each took three wickets as Dambulla was reduced from 63/0 to 99/7. Van Meekeren was required to hit a few boundaries behind the wicket to raise the total to at least over a run a ball. After 20 overs, Dambulla’s score board reflected 121-9.
In the run chase, the Kings scored 50 runs while on the power play thanks to their openers. Samarawickrama was able to hit boundaries pretty frequently even if Avishka Fernando slowed down a little. After the tenth over, the former decided to step it up; he hit a few boundaries against Shanaka to raise his strike-rate above 100. On the other hand, Samarawickrama scored a 35-ball half-ton. Fernando too reached fifty off of 47 balls but was dismissed for the final four runs. The next batter, Ashan Randika, wasted no time in scoring the winning runs by hitting a boundary off the first pitch he faced. Kings chased down 122 runs in 15.4 overs. The reigning champion Jaffna Kings have won two straight games.
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