Lanka Premier League 2022, Match 7 and 8: Galle Gladiators off the blocks, Jaffna Kings back to winning ways

The 7th and 8th match of the Lanka Premier League took place on Sunday at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. 7th game saw Colombo Stars take on Galle Gladiators, which turned out to be a pretty good game of cricket.

Galle Gladiators off the blocks:  

Batting first, the Gladiators notched a formidable score of 174 runs on the board. Thanuka Dabare (36 off 27) and Kusal Mendis (39 off 27) set the tone with a 75-run partnership, while Lahiru Udara played a stellar knock of 45 runs in 30 balls, including 5 fours and 1 six. 

In reply, Colombo Stars were restricted to only 149 runs on the board, thereby losing by 25 runs. Niroshan Dickwella kept the team in the hunt with a 58-run knock but the Stars couldn’t cross the line, eventually. 

As for the Gladiators’ bowling unit, the likes of N Pradeep, Wahab Riaz, and Iftikhar Ahmed picked two wickets each. 

Jaffna Kings back to winning ways with a 51-run win over Dambulla Aura 

 A combined effort from the bat helped Jaffna Kings notch a record-breaking 240-run total on the board. Gurbaz (73 off 50) and Avishka Fernando (54 off 30) set the tone with a 133-run partnership for the opening wicket. 

Valuable contributions from Samarawickrama (38 off 22) and Shoaib Akhtar (32 off 15), later, helped the team reach past the 200-run mark. 

A 240-run total was always going to be a massive target for Dambulla Aura, who are struggling badly in the tournament. But, they showed fight with the bat. Bhanuka Rajapaksa played a handy knock of 38 runs in 31 balls, while Dasun Shanaka hit some lusty blows for his 23-ball 44. Unfortunately, Dambulla couldn’t get anyone who would go on to play a big knock for them. 

For the Kings, Binura Fernando starred with the ball, picking 4 for 22 in 4 overs.