Greys and Reds battle for prize money worth Rs. 3.5 million

The two rival captains Dinesh Chandimal (SLC Reds) and Dasun Shanaka (SLC Greys) with the Dialog Invitational T20 League Champions Trophy that will be awarded to the winner of today’s final

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

After 12 days of intense competition, the two best teams in the Dialog SLC Invitation T20 League – SLC Greys and SLC Reds – will contest each other for the Dialog Invitational T20 League Trophy and prize money of Rs. 2 million reserved for the winner at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium at 7:00 p.m. today. The losing finalist will receive Rs. 1.5 million.

The fickle weather holds the key to making this final a keenly fought out contest. Towards the latter stages of the league round, the tournament was marred by rain with three of the four matches ending in a ‘No Result’. It is what no one wants in a final.

Member of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winning squad Upul Chandana, the Head Coach of Greys has a lot of confidence in his team who are so far unbeaten having won four out of six matches with the other two ending in No Results. They also go into the final having defeated Reds in the league stage by 35 runs.   

“I have a lot of confidence with the team, so has the captain (Dasun Shanaka). We are always with a positive mind. There is all round contribution to the team. Whenever the need arises, someone puts his hand up and wins the match for us. I am confident they will perform well in the final,” said Chandana, who is handling a team as Head Coach for the first time.

“The key to our success is the unity in the side; that has made us perform the way we have to reach the final. The captain has got all the players together, the experienced as well as the youngsters who were able to express themselves freely. We have tried to work to our plans, and it has proved successful so far.”  

“In the first few matches by the sixth over, we lost about three wickets, so the captain took on the responsibility and carried the team on his shoulders. He promoted himself to bat at No. 4 and we were able to win most of the matches on his batting contributions. We have been able to defend small totals successfully because of our bowling unit that has bowled very well.”

“We had a small squad with Bhanuka Rajapaksa injured and Charith Asalanka coming to the tournament after we had played half our league matches. Asalanka’s presence at No. 3 has made our batting stronger, because from the fourth match onwards we have started to build partnerships. I think the team has reached its peak with Nuwanidu Fernando also getting amongst the runs with a fifty in the last game. We are ready to compete,” Chandana said.

SLC Reds Head Coach Ruwin Peiris, a prolific run-getting left-hander in domestic cricket said creating a winning culture in the team and identifying each players’ roles has been the key to their success.

The Reds got off to a slow start losing the first two league games, but picked up from the third and maintained a winning streak to qualify for the final.

“Losing the first two matches was unacceptable. We realised what our shortcomings were in the team. We knew that if we won the next four games, we can enter the final. So, we targeted each match one-by-one and won. We created a winning team culture within the team and identified the roles for each player and they carried it out perfectly. That is the reason for our success,” said Peiris. 

“We had plans when we came to the tournament, but things didn’t work out to plan. We came to recognise the intensity of the tournament and what we should do to win. In the first two matches we didn’t get good partnerships at the top, we lost 3-4 wickets cheaply, but we have rectified it by changing our batting order. ‘Chandi’ (Dinesh Chandimal) took on the responsibility and decided to open the batting with Avishka Fernando. We knew that if we had wickets in hand, we have the ammunition to make the late charge either batting first or chasing. Chamika Karunaratne joining us from the third match has benefited us a lot as we were without an all-rounder,” he said. 

“Although we lost the first two matches, we believed that we were a better team. We lost to the Greys in the first-round match, but we have plans to win this all-important game against them. Dasun Shanaka, who is a big hitter, and Asalanka are both consistent in their performances. It has a great impact on the result of the match. We have studied the players who can do the most damage to us and made the necessary plans. We are trying to reduce the damage they can do and keep them to a target that is reachable for us. If we do that, I think we can win,” Peiris added.

DIALOG SLC INVITATIONAL T20 LEAGUE FINAL STANDINGS

Pos. Team P W L Tied N/R NRR Pts.

1 SLC GREYS 6 4 0 0 2 0.855 10

2 SLC REDS 6 3 2 0 1 -0.597 7

3 SLC BLUES 6 2 2 0 2 0.444 6

4 SLC GREENS 6 0 5 0 1 -0.522 1