Bangla Tigers lift Lanka T10 Super League Title

By: Shamil Amit

• Hambantota Bangla Tigers produced a fine all-round performance to beat Favourites Jaffna Titans by 26 runs in the Inaugural Lanka T10 Super League Cricket Tournament final encounter played at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.

Chasing 133 runs for victory, Jaffna Titans lost wickets at regular intervals and they eventually finished at 107 for six despite a fighting unbeaten half century from middle order batsman Tom Abell. Richard Gleeson wrecked the Hambantota Bangla Tigers’ innings  with excellent figures of three wickets for 21 while Skipper Dasun Shanaka captured two wickets for four runs.

Earlier, Hambantota Bangla Tigers, put into bat, posted 133 for seven from their allotted 10 overs through some useful contributions from their top order batsmen. The openers Mohammad Shahzad and Kusal Perera added 35 runs from 2.4 overs before they suffered a middle order collapse and reached 59 for three at the halfway stage of the innings. However, Skipper Dasun Shanaka and Shevon Daniel revived the innings with a fourth-wicket partnership of 44 runs in three overs.

Shanaka made 21 with two sixes and two boundaries while Daniel struck 26 with one six and three boundaries before Kennar Lewis and Dhananjaya Lakshan added the finishing touches.

• Chief scores:

Hambantota Bangla Tigers: 133/7 in 10 overs (Mohammad Shahzad 26, Dasun Shanaka 21, Shevon Daniel 26, Treveen Mathew 2/18)

Jaffna Titans: 107/6 in 10 overs (Tom Abell 54 n.o, Richard Gleeson 3/21, Dasun Shanaka 2/4).