DAMBULLA: Azmatullah Omarzai backed his two wickets with a match-winning cameo and powered Jaffna Kings to a five-wicket victory over Galle Marvels in the sixth match of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2024 here on Friday.
The Kings, while chasing a daunting 188-run target, were in a state of bother when their set-batter Rilee Rossouw perished in the 17th over with his side still requiring 46 off 21 deliveries.
The Marvels were sensing a comeback with Rossouw’s breakthrough but Omarzai, who came out to bat at No.7, denied them any chance to crawl their way back with belligerent hitting.
The right-handed batter smashed four fours and two sixes on his way to an unbeaten 35 off 13 deliveries and took the Kings home with two balls to spare.
He added an unbeaten 49 runs for the sixth wicket with skipper Charith Assalanka, who made 14 not out from eight balls.
Earlier, Rilee Rossouw, who came out to bat after three overs, played a pivotal role in the successful pursuit with a well-crafted half-century.
He top-scored for the Kings with an anchoring 67. His 42-ball featured eight fours and three sixes.
Opening batter Kusal Mendis also made a notable contribution for the Kings with a quick 30 up the order.
Zahoor Khan was the standout bowler for the Marvels with two wickets for just 33 runs in his quota of four overs.
Put into bat first, the Marvels registered a massive total of 187/5 on the board in their allotted overs.
Leading the way was right-handed batter Tim Seifert, who dominated the Kings bowlers and struck a magnificent century.
The New Zealand international smashed 12 fours and six sixes to score 104 off just 63 deliveries and carried his bat all the way through.
Besides him, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (28) and Alex Hales (23) made significant contributions.
Azmatullah Omarzai was the pick of the bowlers for Jaffna Kings with 2/33 in his four overs, followed by Pramod Madushan and Fabian Allen, who chipped in with a wicket apiece.
The five-wicket victory powered Jaffna Kings to the top of the LPL 2024 standings with four points in three matches while Galle Marvels remained second with the same record but an inferior net run rate.
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