There were two matches played on Saturday in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2022 at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Jaffna Kings beat Galle Gladiators in the first match of the day, while in the second match, Kandy Falcons defeated Dambulla Aura by 39 runs.
While the Falcons claimed another big win, Aura are almost certainly out of the playoffs now because even if they win their last game, they need to win it by a huge and almost impossible margin, given their net run rate.
Jaffna Kings vs Galle Gladiators
Defending champions, Jaffna Kings beat Galle Gladiators by 16 runs in the 17th match of the Lanka Premier League 2023 on Sunday. After winning the toss, Kings’ captain, Thisara Perera opted to bat first. Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Avishka Fernando gave a blazing start to the innings but they couldn’t continue as Gurbaz was dismissed in the fourth over of the innings by Nuwan Thusara.
However, coming at no. 3, Afif Hossain played a magnificent inning of 54 runs off 35 balls, including 5 fours and 1 six. Thisara Perera’s fiery knock of 26 runs off just 13 balls helped the team to achieve a fighting total of 170 runs. Chasing the target of 171 runs, the Gladiators had a bad start. Kings displayed a brilliant bowling performance as they didn’t let any batter settle in and kept picking wickets at regular intervals.
Kandy Falcons vs Dambulla Aura
In the second match on Sunday, Kandy Falcons defeated Dambulla Aura by 39 runs. Kandy Falcons opted to bat first after winning the toss. Openers Kaveen Bandara and Minod Bhanuka gave a blazing start to the inning. However, Bhanuka was dismissed in the 4th over of the inning. Ashen Bandara’s responsible inning helped the team to achieve a respectful total of 160 runs.
The chase never got going at any stage for the Auras. They kept on losing wickets and now only have a mathematical chance of making it to the playoffs. They not only have to beat the Gladiators tomorrow, but they need to do so by a massive massive margin, which looks out of bounds.
