The defending champions Jaffna Kings started their Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2022 campaign with a victory against the Galle Gladiators in the opening fixture of the tournament at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambantota on Tuesday, December 6. Both teams renewed their rivalry after the last year’s summit clash.
The Jaffna Kings is led by the veteran Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera once again. It was under Perera that the Jaffna team won the inaugural edition of the LPL in 2020 and successfully retained their title last season. They would now be aiming for a hat-trick of LPL championships.
Bowlers did the job for both teams
Talking about the opening match Gladiators showed some terrific bowling which helped them bowl out Jaffna Kings for just 137. Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Nuwan Thushara, Nuwan Pradeep, and Iftikhar Ahmed bagged two wickets each for the team except Pulina Tharanga who went wicketless after bowling 3 overs while conceding 26 runs.
After losing Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the third over of the inning Dhananjaya de Silva took responsibility and started accelerating the inning. He scored 29 runs off 19 balls including 3 fours and 2 sixes but he couldn’t continue to keep going as he was dismissed by Nuwan Pradeep in the 8th over. However, Shoaib Malik and Dunith Wellalage helped the team to achieve a respectful total of 137 runs.
Chasing the target of 138 runs, Gladiators’ openers Kusal Mendis and Nuwanidu Fernando started well as they put up a 58-run opening stand. However, after Fernando’s dismissal, the kings didn’t give a single opportunity to Gladiators to come back in the match as the bowlers started taking wickets at regular intervals of time.
Binura Fernando from Jaffna Kings took 3 wickets in 3 overs and one of them was even a maiden over. Vijayakanth Viyaskanth dismissed 2 batters while conceding only 20 overs in 4 overs.
Here’s how people reacted :
Baaki team kyon khelne aati hai..#LankaPremierLeague2022 #LPL
— Cricket Updates (@Cricket23002283) December 6, 2022
Turning out to be an exciting game #LPL2022 #LPLT20
— Bhanuka Mendis (@bhanuka_mendis) December 6, 2022
This Is No Good Pitch For #Cricket And Also For #T20 #SrilankaCricket Prepare Good One Next Time. #SriLanka #LPLT20 #LPL #LPL2022 #LankaPremierLeague2022
— MONTY KUMAR (@monty1bhai) December 6, 2022
Wahab Riaz: 4-0-23-2
— Duniya-e-Cricket (@DuniyaeCricket2) December 6, 2022
Imad Wasim: 4-0-22-2
Iftikhar Ahmed: 1-0-8-2
Pakistan players shine for Galle Gladiators in opening match of #LPLT20 against Jaffna Kings#LPL2022 pic.twitter.com/f9JUwSxTPQ
First Fifty of the LPL season 3! @KusalMendis13 @GalleGladiators @lplt20 #LPLT20 #LPL2022 #WinTogether pic.twitter.com/dlnfbn2Opu
— චූටි❤️❤️ (@HimaliDineshika) December 6, 2022
He's learned from the best and now he's here to stay… A brilliant spell from the Jaffna boy!#YaalKollo #KingsOfTheNorth #JaffnaKings #AdidaMacha #LPL2022 #LPLT20 #WinTogether #එක්වජයගමු #lankapremierleague2022 pic.twitter.com/nzOQE2COPe
— Jaffna Kings (@Lycajaffnakings) December 6, 2022
Jaffna Kings all out for 137
— Saad Irfan 🇵🇰 (@saadirfan_967) December 6, 2022
Should be an easy chase for Galle Gladiators, considering their batting line 🔥 pic.twitter.com/AuGV6rleVj
LPL Season 3 starts today! Players I'm most looking forward to seeing:
— Estelle Vasudevan (@Estelle_Vasude1) December 6, 2022
🇱🇰Movin Subasinghe, Shevon Daniel, Kevin Koththigoda, Ashan Randika
✈️ Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sikandar Raza, Benny Howell#LPL2022
