Cricket News Lanka Premier League 2023

'Babar Azam ko kaptaani milte he haar gayi' - Fans react as Colombo Strikers lose against Jaffna Kings in Lanka Premier League 2023

Babar Azam led the Colombo Strikers as the team's regular skipper Niroshan Dickwella was injured and unavailable.

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Rohit Kumar
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'Babar Azam ko kaptaani milte he haar gayi' - Fans react as Colombo Strikers lose against Jaffna Kings in Lanka Premier League 2023

Babar Azam with Colombo Strikers teammate (Image Credit: Twitter)

In the 13th game of the ongoing Lanka Premier League 2023, Colombo Strikers and Jaffna Kings locked horns. It was a reverse fixture between the two teams that opened the tournament. In that game, the defending champions, Jaffna won by 21 runs. Meanwhile, ahead of this game, the Kings were coming off a loss against Dambulla Aura. On the other hand, the Strikers had a win against Galle Titans.

In this game, the Babar Azam-led side, Colombo won the toss and elected to bat first. Regular skipper Niroshan Dickwella was injured. Nothing went right for the Pink Brigade as they kept losing wickets after getting 57 runs in seven overs. Only Pathum Nissanka (34) could get past the 30-run mark. The team ended up getting only 146/8. Dilshan Madushanka and Dunith Wellalage took two wickets each.

Maheesh Theekshana, Shoaib Malik, and Nuwan Tushara took one wicket each.

Colombo Strikers had no answer to the defending champions' attack

In reply, the Thisara Perera-led side had a great start. The likes of Nishan Madushanka and Rahmanullah Gurbaz put together 58 runs in just 5.2 overs. The latter was the first to go against Matheesha Pathirana after scoring 39 off 21 balls. Charitha Asalanka struggled his way to 12 off 15 balls.

Despite this, the other batters ensured that they will win the game by a fair distance. Skipper Perera scored 17 off seven balls as the fans used to see him during his international career. Madushka got to 46 off 32 balls. Bangladesh player Towhid Hridoy (14*) also played his part and the team reached 150/4 in 14.3 balls, winning the game by six wickets. After the game, Perera was relieved to have a win after two losses.

"Thank God that we're all back in form after two losses. As a bowling unit we did well on this sort of flat wicket. Earlier I said we didn't click with our batting, that's why we brought in Nishan Madushka as a cushion. I feel we can do something special this year as well."

This is how Twitter reacted

Lanka Premier League Colombo Strikers