By Shehan Daniel at the R. Premadasa Stadium

Few are the similarities between this Kandy Warriors team and its iteration from the first season of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), yet just like last year they find themselves in a virtual quarter-final heading into their last group match.

Outside of the obvious splash of orange on their kits, the designated city name and the three players they retained, there is nothing to tie this team to their days as the Tuskers. But for the second year running, the Kandy franchise has had to revive a campaign that began woefully – winning just one of their first six matches – and once again leaving it till the last in their attempts to qualify for the knockout round.

Thursday's six-wicket win, against the Dambulla Giants means the Warriors are within a win of usurping the fourth-placed Colombo Stars franchise, who they will face in that winner-takes-all clash today. Victory will take the Warriors equal on points with the Stars, but owning the better nett run rate means that Kandy will qualify for the playoffs.

Above them, all three teams have qualified, with the Jaffna Kings guaranteed first place.
For Dambulla, their third straight defeat means their best case scenario is a third-place finish, missing out on the luxury of playing in the first qualifier, which would effectively give the losing team a second chance at making next Wednesday’s final.

With 38 runs in their Powerplay, the chasing Warriors were already ahead of the game, 10 runs to the better in comparison to the Giants. Losing Kennar Lewis, who made an impactful 25 off 21 in that passage of play, in the over immediately however opened the door for Dambulla.

It was an opening the Giants couldn’t turn into a full-blown door break though, as Ravi Bopara withstood the dismissals of Minod Bhanuka and Kamindu Mendis, anchoring the innings with a well-composed half-century.

An unbroken 60-run partnership with captain Angelo Perera, meant that the Warriors needed just two runs in the last over, a deficit that was wiped off on the second ball with a six from Bopara.

Bopara had already begun cutting into the target before he was partnered by Perera, taking a six and a boundary off Marchant de Lange in the 11th over that went for 16 runs and released some of the pressure on the Warriors.

That and the odd boundary in the overs bowled by Sachitha Jayathilake and Tharindu Ratnayake significantly reduced the need to attack Imran Tahir and Ramesh Mendis, the Giants’ two main bowlers, both of whom conceded less than five runs an over.

The Giants, in hindsight, were short of a bowler adept to these slow conditions, with the 38 runs that came off de Lange perhaps where the game was lost, though it would be unfair to single out the South African fast bowler when their batters managed only 130.

Not until the sixth-wicket stand between Sachitha Jayathilake and Ramesh Mendis did the Dambulla Giants appear to have a measure of the conditions, the pair forming a partnership relying less on aggression and more on patience.

Of the 49 runs they scored, just 12 were through boundaries, and yet they kept to more than a run a ball – a steady supply of singles and twos ensuring just 10 dot balls out of 42 deliveries they face.

And while Mendis was the ultimate top scorer with 41, Jayathilake’s 34 just about held the innings together, releasing the pressure with an occasional boundary, but rarely frustratedly fishing for them.

There was still work to be done when Jayathilake was dismissed in the 18th over, and after the next over started with another wicket, Mendis unleashed into Al-Amin Hossain on the next delivery clearing the long-on boundary.

The 24 runs off the last two overs, 16 off which were from Mendis, ensured that the Giants had enough of a total to defend.  

The Giants were on 20 for 3 inside four overs, Phil Salt and Niroshan Dickwella dragging Binura Fernando onto their stumps and, sandwiched between those two wickets has Janith Liyanage caught brilliantly by Angelo Perera at first slip for 0.

Captain Dasun Shanaka, walking out to bat in the Powerplay for the second straight match, couldn’t bat beyond five deliveries, with a back injury returning him hurt. So bad it appeared to be that Shanaka did not return even as the Giants lost wickets, and not taking the field during the chase.

And despite the slowness of the pitch, it was the Warrior’s fast bowlers who profited the most, taking seven wickets between them employing good changes of pace that the Giants just couldn’t get a handle on.