Cricket News Lanka Premier League 2023

‘Ye kaise haar gaye bhai’- Twitter in disbelief as Kandy Falcons lose their first match of LPL 2022

The falcons’ winning streak was finally broken by the Gladiators as the Hasaranga-led team lost the match by 12 runs.

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Rohit Kumar
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Kandy Falcons (Source - Twitter)

Kandy Falcons (Source - Twitter)

Kandy Falcons and Galle Gladiators locked horns on Monday, December 12, in Match 9 of Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2022 at the Pallekele International Stadium in Pallekele. The falcons’ winning streak was finally broken by the Gladiators as the Hasaranga-led team lost the match by 12 runs.

The Gladiators, led by Kusal Mendis, on the other hand, started their campaign with two defeats in a row and are finally returned back to the winning rhythm as they’ve won two back-to-back matches in the league. This was also the must-win game for the Gladiators.

After winning the toss, the Gladiators opted to bat first. However, it seemed to be a bad decision initially as the Gladiators' top order was destroyed by Kandy bowlers. However, opener Thanuka Dabare and Nuwanidu Fernando took the responsibility into their hands and helped the team to achieve a respectful total of 153 after losing 6 wickets in 20 overs.  A proper rollercoaster ride that began with them being reduced to 10/4 at one stage, only to put up what turned out to be a good enough total.

Thanuka Dabare's responsible innings

Dabare played a responsible knock of 70 runs off 51 balls including 6 fours and 2 sixes while Fernando scored 56 runs off 50 balls which includes 5 fours. Gladiators struggled against Falcons bowling. Isuru Udana and Carlos Brathwaite bowled brilliant spells to stop the Gladiators from getting a big 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.

Gladiators displayed a brilliant performance as spinner Imad Wasim conceded only 15 runs in his 4 overs quota while taking 1 wicket. Nuwan Thushara dismissed 2 batters in his 4 overs. Lakshan Sandakan also took 2 wickets while conceding only 22 runs.

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