‘Russell-Muscle’ as Andre Russell clobbers one of his four sixes for Colombo Kings in his blazing knock of 65 off 19 balls against Galle Gladiators 

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

It is still too early to predict which of the five teams will finish at the bottom of the My11Circle Lanka Premier League (LPL) standings and thus be eliminated from the semi-finals, but at the end of the first three days of competition, Colombo Kings – led by former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews – have taken an early lead by winning two out of two.

Following a close high-scoring game against Kandy Tuskers in the curtain raiser of the tournament, which they won in the Super Over, Colombo displayed their firepower in a truncated five-over shoot-out to win their second match against Galle Gladiators on Saturday, and thus collect the maximum points to lead the standings.

West Indian Andre Russell simply thrashed the daylights out of Galle with a belligerent innings of 65 not out off 19 balls that enabled Colombo to race to an astonishing 96-1 off 5 overs. Galle had no answer to that kind of hurricane knock and managed 62-2 to lose by 34 runs. 

When you have players in the calibre of Russell, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews and Isuru Udana in the line-up, there is very little any opposition can do to contain them.

“The personnel we’ve got in the team can tackle any given situation at any time,” was how Colombo Kings Captain Mathews described his composition. Colombo has begun well and they need to keep that momentum going until the final.

Dambulla Vikings – captained by another outstanding Sri Lankan T20 cricketer Dasun Shanaka – had fortune on their side when they scraped through on the Duckworth/Lewis rain rule to beat Kandy Tuskers by four runs. 

Shanaka led his team from the front with a fine knock of 73 off 37 balls and with Samit Patel contributing a compact 58 off 38 balls, the pair added 127 runs in partnership towards their final total of 195-4. With one eye on the D/L equation, it was a very difficult run chase for Kandy, who were ahead of the required target until the dismissal of Kamindu Mendis, which put them behind. 

Jaffna Stallions – led by another former Sri Lanka white ball captain Thisara Perera – also began the tournament on a winning note, beating Galle Gladiators by eight wickets. The manner in which they won exemplified that they are one of the teams to watch. They chased down Galle’s total of 175 romping home with ease. 

Avishka Fernando, one of Sri Lanka’s exciting ‘finds’ from the 2019 World Cup, overcame a slow start and bloomed to display his full repertoire of strokes and score a magnificent 92 not out. With old warhorse Shoaib Malik, he saw his side home with an unbroken century stand.

The two teams without a single point to their names, Kandy Tuskers and Galle Gladiators, have a lot of work to do to secure their first wins. The problem with Kandy has been their fielding and bowling, which coach and former Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratne is working hard to get right.

When Kandy lost the opening game to Colombo on the Super Over, Tillakaratne said: “Even after making 219, the match was tied. I thought we could have sealed the game in the second session itself without coming to the Super Over. Had we fielded very well and bowled well, there wouldn’t have been a Super Over.”

The fielding lapses continued to haunt Kandy even in their second match against Dambulla Vikings, although there was some improvement shown from the first. Tillakaratne was an outstanding fielder who set high standards during his playing days with Sri Lanka and will certainly be disappointed with the display put up by his players in the middle.

Galle Gladiators – led by former Pakistan captain and terrific all-rounder Shahid Afridi – are at the bottom of the standings and need to lift themselves up with a win. It is still not too late for Kandy and Galle to bounce back as they have another six matches each to play. The result of today’s match between the two sides will end the barren run for one of them. 

The other match in today’s double header is between two unbeaten sides – Dambulla Vikings and Jaffna Stallions.

Each of the five teams plays eight matches in the round-robin stage, with the top four sides going through to play in the semi-finals.

Dale Steyn to join Kandy Tuskers