LPL: Prasanna’s big hitting sinks Kandy Warriors

Seekkuge Prasanna took the game away from the hands of Kandy Warriors with his unbelievable power-hitting un the last 13 balls.

Colombo Stars scored 50 runs off the last 16 balls to register a brilliant victory over the Kandy Warriors. 

Kandy Warriors  20 overs     146-9

K. Lewis  62(44)           Chameera 4-35                                                                                                               Asalanka 28(18)           de Silva     1-4

Colombo Stars   19.4 overs    150-5 

Chandimal 44(27)         Vimukthi 2-11                                                                                                            Prasanna    32*(6)         Asalanka 1-14

Kandy Warriors got a very brilliant start from their openers but they collapsed badly after the dismissal of 1st wicket and managed to score only 146-9 in 20 overs.

Colombo Stars got a bad start to their chase but due to Chandimal’s experience and some extraordinary power hitting from Prasanna helped Colombo Stars to chase down the total with 2 balls to spare. 

Brilliant Start by Kandy Warriors

Kennar Lewis and Charith Asalanka provided a very brilliant start to their side by scoring a 70 plus run opening stand.

Kennar Lewis was the most aggressive of the two.

He smashed 3 sixes on the first three deliveries of the 4th over that was bowled by Prasanna.

The openers scored 61 runs in the Powerplay.

Kandy Warriors were eyeing on a big total when they were 77 for no loss in 8 overs but Naveen Ul Haq got the important breakthrough by dismissing Asalanka(28 runs off 18 balls) on the first ball of the 9th over. 

The huge Collapse

After the dismissal of 1st wicket, Kandy Warriors started to lose wickets in regular intervals as none of the other batters except the openers was able to cross even 15 runs mark.

Even Nimesh Vimukthi was the only batter other than the openers to cross the double-figure mark.

Kennar Lewis was dismissed in the 12th over of the innings after playing a wonderful knock of 62 runs off 44 balls including 6 sixes and just 2 fours.

Kandy Warriors scored 82 runs in the first 10 overs with the loss of just 2 wickets but they only managed to score 64 runs and lost 7 wickets in the last 10 overs and they finished their innings on a total of 146-9.

Dusmantha Chameera picked up 4 wickets for just 35 runs in his 4 overs while all the other 5 bowlers of Kandy Warriors picked up 1 wicket each. 

Colombo Stars played totally differently to Kandy Warriors as they got a bad start but the end was superb.

The Stars lost Pathum Nissanka for a duck in the first over followed by the dismissal of Thikshila de Silva in the 5th over.

In fact, they only managed to score 28 runs from the Powerplay and also lost 2 wickets in it.

Colombo Stars were struggling on 66-4 in 14 overs but the experienced Chandimal rescued his side and made a 49 run stand with Sherfane Rutherford.

Chandimal played a brilliant knock of 44 runs off 27 balls including 4 fours and 1 six.

But the asking rate was too much for him and he got dismissed in the 18th over. 

The match-changing knock from Prasanna

Colombo Stars needed 37 runs off the last 13 balls when Prasanna came to bat and he announced himself on the crease by smashing a six on his very first delivery.

31 runs were needed in 12 balls but a four from Rutherford and a six from Prasanna reduced the margin to 16 off 6 balls.

Prasanna was in full hitting form as he smashed 3 sixes in 3 deliveries to get his side over the line with still two balls to spare.

Prasanna scored a match-winning knock 32 runs off just 6 balls including those 5 match-changing sixes.