By Shehan Daniel at the R. Premadasa Stadium

It may only have been the opening game of the tournament, but the defending champions Jaffna Kings made their case as the team to beat in this year’s Lanka’s Premier League tournament with a 20-run win over the Colombo Strikers on Sunday. 

While the Kings’ batting had paced itself in the fashion that has become accustomed to the three-time champions – keeping enough wickets in hand and then attacking at the death – it was their bowling in the last ten overs of the game that helped them claw the game back to bowl their opponents out for 152. 

Strikers’ captain Niroshan Dickwella gave his team’s charge towards the 174-run target the perfect start, cracking two boundaries and a six off the bowling of Kings’ USD 90,000-man Dilshan Madushanka before adding three more fours over the next four overs. 

The wickets of Babar Azam and Pathum Nissanka didn’t deter Dickwella and his aggressive approach, as he bookended the Powerplay by pinging Thisara Perera for three boundaries taking Colombo to the six-over mark on 55 for 2 – the Kings’ having been 43 for 2 at the same stage. 

Despite the Kings’ breaking a 38-run partnership with the wicket of Nuwanidu Fernando for 17, caught and bowled to Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, the Strikers were 14 runs to the better to where their opponents had been after 10 overs. 

The turning point then proved to be the wicket of Dickwella, who in typical Dickwella-style died by his sword, guiding a delivery well outside off stump straight to the fielder at third man, with Madushanka avenging the opening over hammering. 

That left the Strikers needing 86 off the final 57 balls, and they failed to find another hot hand that could mow down the target, eventually falling 20 runs short. 

Vijayakanth was integral to the Kings’ slowing Colombo down, his four overs going for just 17 runs with two wickets, though South African Hardus Viljeon had the best figures of 3 for 31. 

The Kings on the other hand plundered 55 runs off the final five overs to end on 173 for 5, losing just two wickets for 75 between the Powerplay and the 15th over.

The defending champions may have signed Bangladesh’s Towhid Hridoy as a temporary replacement until Pakistani all-rounder Shoaib Malik joins their squad, but Hridoy proved that he may just well be worth keeping around with the first half-century of the tournament.

Hridoy was also party to the Kings’ two main partnerships – first for 41 with Priyamal Perera and 50 with Dunith Wellalage – falling not long after reaching his 50 off 37 balls. 

Wellalage’s innings included two delectable boundaries behind square on the off-side, but the young all-rounder was also guilty of wasting a handful of deliveries attempting to be inventive in his shot making. 
He finished unbeaten on 25 off 23, while captain Thisara swung his bat for three boundaries for 14 off 7. 

Kings’ opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz benefitted from an early reprieve, when he was dropped by Yasodha Lanka at slip in the first over, before taking a six each off Mohammad Nawaz and Naseem Shah, inside the first three overs. 

Shah would however have the last words – literally screaming them in the face of the dismissed batsman – after he was caught brilliantly at deep mid-on by Ramesh Mendis. (Pix: Kushan Pathiraja)