Galle Gladiators
Jaffna Kings
It was a nail-biting performance from Dambulla Aura in the 4th match of the Lanka Premier League against Jaffna Kings. Both teams are scheduled to meet for the second time in the 7th match of the tournament on Friday August 4th.
Dambulla Aura will be confident for the rematch after their dominating win over Jaffna Kings on Tuesday.
The three-time champions witnessed a shocking defeat in their second fixture of the tournament against Dambulla Aura. Jaffna Kings still have time to revive their game plan for the rest of the season and take revenge on Dambulla Aura on Friday.
Dambulla Aura to win the match
The betting tip is...
Binura Fernando will pick over 1.5 wickets in the match.
Galle GladiatorsJaffna KingsLosing the toss turned out to be a huge opportunity for skipper Kusal Mendis and his men. The bowlers kept the game under control from the first ball. Binura Fernando picked up 2 wickets in 4 overs at an economy of 6.80. He also bowled one maiden over.
On the batting front, Avishka Fernando (52 off 32 balls) and Kusal Mendis (29 off 23 balls) gave a stable start to the team. Kusal Perera played the role of a match-winner as he scored 34 off 22 balls at a strike rate of 154.55.
Skipper Kusal Mendis will be playing with the same combination of players on Friday.
Predicted Lineup: Hayden Kerr, Avishka Fernando, Shahnawaz Dahani, Noor Ahmad, Binura Fernando, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Ravindu Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Alex Ross
The decision to bat first after winning the toss turned out to be a huge disappointment for the three-time LPL champions. Batting first, only Charith Asalanka played a valuable inning by scoring 56 off 52 balls at a strike rate of 107.69.
The start was slow for Kings and because of the same reason, the middle-order was unable to handle the pressure of scoring runs and failed miserably. Since the score was low, the bowlers were under pressure to pick wickets but the result was completely opposite.
Except for Wellalage & Viyaskanth no other bowler was able to pick any wickets and maintained a higher economy.
Team management will be concerned about the failure of the middle order and some changes are expected in the team.
Predicted Lineup: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Nishan Madushka (wk), Charith Asalanka, Priyamal Perera, Towhid Hridoy, Dunith Wellalage, Thisara Perera, Maheesh Theekshana, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Dilshan Madushanka, Hardus Viljoen
After losing the first match in the tournament, Dambulla Aura showcased their class against Jaffna Kings. They have good depth in their batting and the bowlers also have a good momentum. We predict another win for Dambulla Aura on Friday against Jaffna Kings.
