Colombo Stars gave Galle Gladiators a run for their money to garner a four-wicket win in the third match of the Lanka Premier League 2021 on the second day of the Sri Lanka Cricket organised T20 showpiece tournament at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Monday.
The architect of downsizing the winners of yesterday’s opening game versus Jaffna Stallions, was Dhananjaya de Silva, who produced an all-round performance. He picked up two wickets for 18 runs and scored a well-made 24 off 28 balls.
Galle Gladiators’ big guns came apart against Colombo’s pace and spin attack of Dushmantha Chameera, who got 2 for 21, Dhananjaya de Silva, who got 2 for 18 and Akila Dananjaya, who finished with 2 for 19.
The trio left them reeling on 45 for 4 wickets after the six powerplay overs. It took an unfinished ninth-wicket partnership of 39 between Isuru Udana 25 off 17 laced with two over the top and Noor Ahmad, who made 11 to lift the side to 116 for 8 from f 77 for 8 after 15.3. overs. Upfront Ben Dunk top-scored for the Gladiators with 38 off 25 hitting 4 fours and 2 sixes.
But it didn’t stop the Colombo Stars from hitting the winning board. The Stars settled the issue reaching 117 for 6 off 17.3 overs with David Wiese, the South African born Namibia player, scoring 22 off 16, smacking two sixes and Dinesh Chandimal, coming out of a recent lean run with an unbeaten 26 containing 2 fours.
The Gladiators started their campaign on a resounding note with a resounding 54-run win over the Jaffna Kings, the defending champions of the LPL. Their bowling looked lethal as the Kings were bowled out for 110 in a mere 18.4 overs. Samit Patel had picked up three wickets and conceded 21 runs in four overs.
After the loss on Monday, the Gladiators went down to second in the points table with a net run rate of 0.947. The Stars, on the other hand, are positioned at fourth with a net run rate of 0.886. Their next match is against Dambulla Giants on Wednesday.
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