LPL: Jaffna Kings become the champions again

Jaffna Kings registered a 23 run victory in the final match over the Gladiators.

The Galle Gladiators again lost the LPL final as the Jaffna Kings won the final match to become the winners of Lanka Premier league for the second successive time.

They deserved this victory as they have not only played well in the final but also in the whole tournament. 

Jaffna Kings       20 overs     201-3

Fernando 63 (41)            Patel   1-32                                                                                                                      Cadmore  57*(41)          Thushara 1-33                                                                                                                 Gurbaz      35 (18)            Amir 1-39

Galle Gladiators  20 overs   178-9

Gunathilaka 54 (21)         C. De Silva 2-15                                                                                                                   K. Perera      39 (28)          Hasaranga 2-30                                                                                                            Samit Patel  22(20)           Lakmal 1-23

The top order of Jaffna Kings batted outstandingly in the final match to put up a good total on the board.

The half-centuries from Fernando and Cadmore helped the Jaffna Kings to score 201 runs in the 20 overs, losing just 3 wickets. 

In reply, after having a good start in the first 10 overs, the Galle Gladiators continued to lose wickets in regular intervals.

Hence they were only able to score 178 runs with the loss of 9 wickets from their 20 overs. 

The Brilliant batting performance by Jaffna 

The openers again provided a good start to the Jaffna Kings as they scored 56 runs off 32 balls for the first wicket.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz was dismissed after scoring 35 runs off just 18 balls including 3 fours and 3 sixes.

Avishka Fernando and Tom Kohler-Cadmore also put up a 50 run stand for the second wicket.

Avishka Fernando played a superb knock of 63 runs off just 41 balls.

He smashed 6 fours and 2 sixes in his brilliant knock. He was dismissed by Thushara in the 13th over. 

Shoaib Malik then joined Tom Kohler-Cadmore to put up the third fifty-run partnership of the innings.

Malik played a brilliant cameo of 23 runs off 11 balls( 1 four and 2 six) with a strike rate of over 200.00.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore remained unbeaten on 57 runs of 41 balls including 2 fours and 3 huge sixes with a strike rate of over 139.

Thisara Perera played a quickfire cameo at the end, scoring 17 runs off 9 balls.

He smashed 1 four and 2 sixes in his knock. Amir, Patel, and Thushara picked up 1 wicket each. 

Gunathilaka’s fiery start 

Gunathilaka gave a very good start to his side while chasing a target of 201 runs in the final match.

He had a good 63 run opening partnership with Kusal Perera from just 26 balls.

Out of that 63 runs opening partnership, 54 runs were scored by Gunathilaka.

He played an excellent knock of 54 runs off just 21 balls including 7 fours and 3 sixes.

After a brilliant start with the bat, Galle Gladiators lost two wickets in two balls as both Gunathilaka and Ben Dunk were dismissed by Hasaranga in the 5th over of the innings.

After losing back-to-back wickets, Hafeez and Perera were looking to build a good partnership but unfortunately, Hafeez was run-out on just 10 runs.

The scoring rate was not a big issue for Galle Gladiators as they scored 106 runs in the first 10 overs but the main concern was the wickets as the Gladiators lost 3 wickets in the first half of the innings.

After Kusal Perera’s(39 off 28) run-out, the match went away from the reach of Gladiators as they lost quick wickets after that.

Galle Gladiators were only able to score 178-9 in the 20 overs and they lost the match by 23 runs.

Hasaranga and C. De Silva picked up 2 wickets each from their spells.