Jaffna enter a new season with a familiar clinical performance. Double-header day tomorrow. Galle and Dambulla will start their campaign. Colombo will be in action tomorrow again against B Love Kandy. Ashish will be back in on comms to cover that. Check it out. Goodnight for now.
Thisara Perera, Jaffna Kings captain: Really good start, we had a great start. Very confident with my players. We are expecting players to come in including David Miller. They should be available for the next match.
Chamika Karunaratne: We should have kept them to 160. I think we were one batter short in the middle but we went going in with the local player with the pitch in consideration. My run out was crucial as we got it down to 20. But I have to take the blame for it.
Chamika Karunaratne comes in for the presentation in place of Niroshan Dickwella.
Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, POTM: Really happy about my progress. (On R Ashwin) We are talking in Instagram also. He said good luck. It was a good opportunity to play. I didn't have a plan, just bowled wicket to wicket.
11:10pm: The defending champions stamp their authority in the 2023 tournament opener. They put up a decent score and their bowlers used the conditions well. Perera and Vijolen both used the short ball well, the former with variations and the latter with pace. Viyaskanth found big spin and bounce with his leggies and finished with a two-for while going at 4.25 runs an over. Madushanka got the key wicket of Dickwella, who was the only steady batter for Colombo in the first half of their chase. Karunaratne was the only other batter to go past 20. Dickwella guiding the ball straight to deep third and two run outs, and Pathirana's lusty blows, albeit not being enough, were among the highlights of the innings.
M Pathirana b Madushanka 8 (8b 2x4 0x6) SR: 100.00
Pathirana on strike
A bit of entertaining resistance from Pathirana but 23 needed off 6 with one wicket in hand seems a bridge too far. Can there be a twist?
END OF OVER:19 | 8 Runs 1 Wkt | CLS: 151/9 (23 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 7.94, RRR: 23.00)
- Matheesha Pathirana8 (5b)
- Lakshan Sandakan1 (1b)
- Hardus Viljoen4-0-31-3
- Maheesh Theekshana4-0-39-0
RTM Mendis c †Fernando b Viljoen 17 (10b 1x4 1x6) SR: 170.00
31 needed off 12
END OF OVER:18 | 15 Runs | CLS: 143/8 (31 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 7.94, RRR: 15.50)
- Ramesh Mendis17 (9b)
- Lakshan Sandakan1 (1b)
- Maheesh Theekshana4-0-39-0
- Vijayakanth Viyaskanth4-0-17-2
END OF OVER:17 | 6 Runs 2 Wkts | CLS: 128/8 (46 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 7.52, RRR: 15.33)
- Ramesh Mendis3 (4b)
- Vijayakanth Viyaskanth4-0-17-2
- Maheesh Theekshana3-0-24-0
Naseem Shah st †Fernando b Viyaskanth 0 (3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
Slip in