LPL 2022: Galle Gladiators beat Kandy Falcons, Jaffna Kings back to the top

There were two matches played on Monday in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2022 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. In the first match, Galle Gladiators defeated Kandy Falcons and in the second match of the day, Jaffna Kings beat Colombo Stars in a thriller match.

All in all, Jaffna Kings go two points clear of Kandy Falcons at the top. And Galle Gladiators, with two wins in a row, are placed at the third position on the table.

Kandy falcons' first defeat of the tournament

Dabare’s special knock of 70 runs off 51 balls including 6 fours and 2 sixes and Fernando’s responsible innings of 56 runs off 50 balls which includes five fours helped the team to achieve a respectful total of 153 after losing 6 wickets in 20 overs. From being on 10/4 at one stage, only to put up what turned out to be a good enough total.

Chasing the target of 154, the Falcons too had a bad start as they also lost some early wickets initially. Opener Pathum Nissanka scored 29 runs but with a very low strike rate of 90.62 which only led to increasing the required run rate for the team. However, Ashen Bandara and Chamika Karunaratne raised some hopes for the team but couldn’t win the match as they lost their first match of the tournament by 12 runs.

Jaffna climb to the top of the table

In the second match of the day, Colombo Stars took on the defending champions Jaffna Kings. Stars opted to bowl first after winning the toss but they couldn’t restrict the Kings to put up a good total. Every batter from the Kings contributed to the scoreboard. Benny Howell and Naveen-ul-Haq were the only bowlers who looked good.

The game looked dead and buried for most parts of the chase after Jaffna had put on 178 runs on the board. In reply, Colombo crumbled and were 37/5 a little after seven overs but Benny Howell gave them hope late on. He stitched a partnership of 80 runs with the veteran Angelo Mathews, who also started swinging for fun late in the innings but couldn’t finish the game as the asking rate was very high in the last over. And eventually, they lost by 6 runs.