Lanka Premier League reach final stage
Dinesh Chandimal tops the batsmen's list of LPL 2
A comprehensive 58-run win over Kandy Warriors in a virtual quarter-final game on Friday may have pumped up the Colombo Stars ahead of their eliminator clash against Dambulla Giants this afternoon at the Hambantota Cricket stadium. The match will start at 4.00pm.
The Stars needed a win to secure their place in the knockout stage and they did it in style with an impressive all-round effort to knock Kandy Warriors out of contention for the title and will go all gun blazing to join the qualifier No.2.
Dambulla Giants, led by national limited over skipper Dasun Shanaka, beat Stars when they met for the first time in the tournament by a decent margin of 18 runs and in the second game successfully saw off a Dinesh Chandimal onslaught to win by a narrowest of margin of 1 run.
However their performances towards the tail-end of the first round was a cause for concern as they lost all their last three games. On the other hand, Stars led by Angelo Mathews, won four out of the eight games to finish third in the points table. Lot will depend on in-form, Dinesh Chandimal who has been a revelation this season, not only scoring heavily but doing at a very good strike rate, exceeding 150. He is currently the highest run-score of the tournament with 275 runs in eight games and Stars will hope the former Sri Lanka skipper would continue his purple patch in their quest to earn a place in the final.
The second game at 8.00pm between Jaffna Kings and Galle Gladiators would be a cracker and going by the past results Gladiators will fancy their changes against the star-studded Kings. Kings have been the team to watch this season as they won six games at a stretch after losing their opening game to Gladiators to top the points table before Gladiators inflicted the second defeat in a low scoring thriller in their final meeting.
The winner will qualify for the finals while the loser will meet the winner of the eliminator to qualify for the Thursday’s final. The second qualifier will be played on Tuesday. Galle Gladiators, won both the matches that the two teams played each other against, by 30 runs and by 54 runs. In fact it was the only two defeats that Jaffna Kings tasted.
Kings will no doubt be coming into the crucial game with the aim of seeking revenge and much will depend on skipper Thisara Perera, Upul Tharanga, Avishka Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Wahab Riaz, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Tom Kohler-Cadmore to deliver the goods.
Galle Gladiators, on the other hand, have in their ranks Kusal Mendis, Dhanushka Gunatileke, skipper Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Samit Patel, Mohammad Hafeez and Ben Dunk from whom they will be depending to continue the winning streak against the Kings.