Jaffna Kings' dominance in Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2023 came to an end on August 17 as sensational performances from Wanindu Hasaranga and Mohammad Haris helped B-Love Kandy win the eliminator by 61 runs.
Jaffna skipper Thisara Perera won the toss and opted to field first. Nuwan Thushara dismissed Fakhar Zaman for a two-ball duck in the first over. In the third over, Haris and Dinesh Chandimal attacked Dilshan Madushanka. In the sixth over, Thushara took a beating as well. Chandimal hit him for two fours and a six. After six overs, Kandy were 58/1. Asela Gunaratne trapped Chandimal in front of the wickets and broke the partnership. He scored 41 runs from 24 balls including six fours and a six. Hasaranga hit a couple of sixes but then got bowled by Gunaratne. Kandy were 92/3 at the halfway stage.
Haris broke free in the 14th over and hit Gunaratne for two sixes and a four. The Pakistan batter got to his half-century from 36 deliveries. The rampage continued but Kamindu Mendis got bowled by Maheesh Theekshana after contributing with a 13-ball 17. Theekshana in his last over got Haris stumped. He scored 79 runs from 39 balls comprising eight fours and four sixes. In the last over, Thushara got the wickets of Asif Ali, Angelo Mathews, and Isuru Udana but Kandy were able to post a challenging total of 188/8 on the board.
In the run chase, Jaffna lost Charith Asalanka in the second over bowled by Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a couple of sixes but then miscommunication with Chris Lynn led to his turn ut for 10-ball 19 in the fifth over. After powerplay overs, Jaffna were 47/2. Hasaranga came into the attack and got the wickets of Dunith Wellalage and Lynn. David Miller and Shoaib Malik rebuilt the run chase. After 12 overs, they had 100 runs on the board. But Hasarnaga struck again to dismiss Miller and Gunaratne in the same over. Miller scored 26 runs from 20 balls.
The situation turned from bad to worse as skipper Perera got out bowled for a four-ball duck in the 14th over. In the 17th over, Malik fell to Nuwan Pradeep for a 23-ball 31 as Kings run chase were derailed completely. Hasaranga then came back to the attack to get rid of Theekshana and Thushara to bundle out the innings for 127 with 16 balls left in the innings and reach Qualifier 2 against Galle Titans in style.
“We all know Jaffna have been champions in the last three years. Our boys played really good cricket. We haven’t played Dushmantha today because he was injured, Udana also got injured. Finished Mujeeb’s 4 overs before 10 overs but I still believed in myself. I do my basic things, try to bowl on stumps. Try to bowl good line and length and dot balls. The wrong-un is my weapon, I get lot of wickets from it. So I back my strengths,” Hasaranga said in the post-match presentation.
“It was a bad day. We thought we can chase 180 with our batting line-up. But we won’t worry about that. Still proud of my team as we won three in a row, I don’t think anyone would’ve been able to achieve that. Hopefully we can bounce back strong next year,” Perera said after Jaffna got knocked out of the tournament.
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