All-round Asela stars, as Tuskers edge Stallions

Asela Gunaratne celebrates scoring the winning runs and reaching his half century

By Madushka Balasuriya 

In a departure from the run-fests that have populated the Lanka Premier League so far, the Jaffna Stallions and Kandy Tuskers played out a rare low-scoring affair that eventually saw the Tuskers sneak a six-wicket win in Sooriyawewa last evening.

It was fittingly Man of the Match Asela Gunaratne, unbeaten on a 37-ball 52, that scored the winning runs – coming down the wicket to swat Duanne Olivier for a straight six off the first ball of the final over. That it was just the fourth six of the entire game tells a story, as both sets of players struggled to score fluently.

That it even came to that point was down to a combination of tight bowling and unambitious batting on the part of the Tuskers. Having done exceedingly well to limit the Stallions to 150, the Tuskers suddenly found themselves struggling to get ahead of the required rate. 

Wanindu Hasaranga, who ended with figures of 2 for 23, was once again the standout threat, but it didn’t help the Tuskers’ cause that they lost three wickets inside the power play period for just 44 runs. Their response to that was to then eschew any sort of risk in their chase – though there was an incentive to get the runs quicker and leapfrog in the net run rate stakes the Galle Gladiators, whom they are competing with for a final semifinal spot. In the end Gunaratne’s cool head would prevail, putting on two consecutive 50-run stands with Kusal Perera and Irfan Pathan, to see his side through.

Earlier, it was once again Gunaratne that had made the difference, after his miserly four overs had given away just 21 runs and accounted for the wickets of both Minod Bhanuka and Thisara Perera. Both those wickets came in a pivotal 13th over, after Bhanuka along with Shoaib Malik had resurrected an ailing Stallions innings.

In each of the Tuskers’ five defeats the common denominator has been their inability to stifle the flow of runs in the middle overs, be it through economical bowling or the picking up of regular wickets. But there was no such problem here, as the Tuskers’ bowlers – led by the finally available Dale Steyn – exposed some of the cracks in an otherwise dangerous Stallions batting line-up.

It was Steyn that set the early tone dismissing Avishka Fernando off just the third delivery of the opening over, after which Charith Asalanka and Johnson Charles – both of whom got starts – fell to Avishka Fernando and Nuwan Pradeep respectively, to leave the Stallions reeling at 3 for 50 at end of the power play.

In most of their games this season, the Stallions have had to recover after the loss of early wickets, and so it was the case again as a slow-burn 59-run fourth wicket stand off 53 deliveries between Malik and Bhanuka brought forth consolidation, with the plan clearly being to set the stage for a customary late assault from the likes of Thisara Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga.  However, the economical as ever Gunaratne, utilising his brand of unusual wibbly-wobblies (or whatever you want to call it), would dismiss both Bhanuka and Thisara in the space of an over. Steyn would then return for his second spell and get Wanindu to nick a thick edge for Kusal Perera to take acrobatically behind the stumps, as the Stallions’ plan was left in tatters at 104/6 in the 15th over.

Malik would do his best to up the scoring rate with a few boundary hits, but in the end with recognised batsman running out, he too would fall for a 44-ball 59, and at 132/8 the Stallions were struggling. Fourteen runs off the final two overs would see the Stallions limp to 150, a score that was going to be hard to defend despite their best efforts.