END OF OVER:
20 | 17 Runs 2 Wkts | KAF: 197/8 (3 runs required, RR: 9.85)

  • Pavan Rathnayake1 (1b)
  • Thisara Perera2-0-18-1
  • Matheesha Pathirana4-0-26-4

7pm That will be all from us for this game. The action in the LPL does not stop and in a few minutes' time, the Dambulla Sixers will be at it against the Jaffna Kings, and you can catch all that happens in that game here. Until next time, this is goodbye from me, Chetan and everyone else at ESPNcricinfo! Take care!

Matheesha Pathirana, Player of the Match: I had a little bit of pressure because it was a good wicket. I had 2 for 19 after two overs and then I tried to bowl dot balls and I got wickets as a bonus.

Thisara Perera, Colombo Strikers captain: (On the decision to bowl the final over) I bowled only one over (before). I asked my teammates and they said I can bowl, so I bowled (smiles). (On what he was thinking before the last ball) I am always backing my yorkers, so that is why I stuck with my plan. I could not bowl it (just before the last ball) but bowled on the last ball.

Wanindu Hasaranga, Kandy Falcons captain: Credit goes to our top order, they batted really well. It was a fantastic game. Wicket was so good, I thought it was also a chaseable score. As a bowling unit, we should bowl with discipline.

6:50pm Phew. That is perhaps the only expression that sums up this topsy-turvy contest. The Falcons were behind in the powerplay and then, courtesy of Haris and Fletcher, they were ahead. Comfortably ahead it seemed, until both of them were dismissed in quick succession. Kamindu Mendis then unfurled an extraordinary repertoire of strokes and brought the equation down to 47 off 30, which later became 35 off 23. But then, Pathirana turned up, and he, almost single-handedly, turned the tide Colombo's way.

His gave away only a handful of runs in his last 11 balls, picked up crucial wickets and gave Perera 20 to defend in the final over. The Strikers skipper then had 18 in the bank (off four balls) and ended up conceding 16 in his first three, only to come up with a dot, right when it mattered most.

Plenty to dissect from a Falcons POV. Should Chaturanga have kept swinging when Mathews was at the other end? Could Mathews have denied the single off the final ball of the penultimate over and stayed on strike for the start of the 20th? Could they have been more judicious in their shot-selection when the required run-rate seemed under control? These questions might sting for a while, and might be something to ponder over as the dust settles.

19.6
W
NLTC Perera to Mathews, OUT, Perera does the trick! The Strikers have won, and look at him wheel away in celebration! Mathews, having brought the Falcons so close, falls agonizingly short! Finally gets the yorker right, just outside off. Mathews can only drill it back to Perera, who fields it cleanly and then runs up to the stumps to run out Mathews. The Falcons lose by two runs, and the Strikers have now done the double over them!

AD Mathews run out 33 (14b 4x4 2x6) SR: 235.71

Just three needed now. Perera under all sorts of pressure. Super Over, anyone?

LPL News

Kandy 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st25ADS FletcherLD Chandimal
2nd95ADS FletcherMohammad Haris
3rd4PHKD MendisMohammad Haris
4th41AD MathewsPHKD Mendis
5th0AD MathewsMD Shanaka
6th0AD MathewsPW Hasaranga
7th15AD MathewsPC de Silva
8th17AD MathewsP Rathnayake