PALLEKELE: Wanindu Hasaranga followed his 3/9 with a quickfire half-century and helped B-Love Kandy to sink Jaffna Kings by eight wickets in the ninth game of Lanka Premier League (LPL).
After winning the toss, B-Love Kandy opted to bowl first and reduced Jaffna Kings to 7-2 in 2.1 overs, removing Rahmanulla Gurbaz (0) and Charith Asalanka (5) quickly, thanks to an amazing display of pace bowling by Angelo Mathews. He picked up two wickets in his two overs for eight runs.
Towhid Hridoy (19 off 22) tried to anchor the Kings’ innings with a brief third-wicket partnership with David Miller but was removed by Hasaranga with the scoreboard reading at 34 in seven overs.
Miller and Priyamal Perera then made notable contributions – 21 each – in the middle but failed to pull their side out of danger.
Following their departure, the Kings lost wickets at an alarming rate and were consequently slipped to 86/9 in the 17th over before Dunith Wellalage added valuable runs at the backend.
Wellalage’s gutsy knock recovered the Kings to 117/6 in 20 overs. His 27-ball 38 featured six boundaries and a six.
Wanindu Hasarnga returned with impressive figures of 3-9 in his four overs, while Nuwan Pradeep picked three wickets for 36 runs.
B-Love Kandy got off to a cautious start to the run chase as they could score 31 runs in the powerplay.
Nandre Burger then castled Chandimal (22 off 16) on the first delivery after the powerplay to draw a much-needed success for the Kings.
Promoting himself up the order, Hasaranga joined Fakhar in the middle and turned the game on its head with belligerent hitting.
He baton charged the Kings’ bowlers while Fakhar Zaman held his end firm.
The duo added 71 runs off 36 balls for the second wicket before Fakhar faltered with B-Love Kandy requiring just 16 in eight overs.
He scored an anchoring 42 off 39, laced up with two boundaries and two sixes.
Hasaranga did not hold back despite Fakhar’s dismissal as he finished the game in the same over by hitting 15 runs off the last four deliveries.
His 22-ball 52 feature five boundaries and three maximums.
B-Love Kandy are slated at fourth position in the LPL standings, while Jaffna Kings are at three, thanks to their better net run rate.
Jaffna Kings will face Dambulla Aura on Monday, whereas, B-Love Kandy will square off against Galle Titans on August 8.
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