Galle play like Titans to make it to Qualifier 1

Seekkuge Prasanna provided an ideal foil to Tabraiz Shamsi with three wickets

Galle Titans spinner Tabraiz Shamsi who ran through the Colombo Strikers batting celebrates a wicket

• Outplay Colombo Strikers in all phases of the game

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Galle Titans led by national white ball Captain Dasun Shanaka came up with a phenomenal performance to beat Colombo Strikers by eight wickets in the final league game played at the R. Premadasa Stadium under lights yesterday and qualify for the Playoffs of the Lanka Premier League.

In this knockout contest where both teams had a chance of making it to the Playoffs, Galle outplayed Colombo in all phases of the game with an exceptional performance. They not only delivered a knockout punch to Colombo but also to B-Love Kandy displacing them from second place in the final league standings which meant that Galle will play table leaders Dambulla Aura for a place in the final in Qualifier 1.

Kandy pushed down to third place, will take on defending champions Jaffna Kings who finished fourth in Qualifier 2. The winner of this match will meet the loser of Qualifier 1, while the loser goes out of the tournament.   

After bowling out Colombo for 74 – the second lowest total in the history of the competition, Galle needed to score those runs inside 11.1 overs to displace Kandy on the net run rate.

They came out with the intention of doing so and despite losing two early wickets for 19, they eventually cruised home with Lasith Croospulle playing a great knock on a surface where all the other batters had struggled, racing to 42* off 25 balls (4 fours, 3 sixes) as Galle reached their target in 8.3 overs. Shakib Al Hasan (17*) and Croospulle saw Galle home in an unbroken stand of 56 in five overs.

In this crucial knockout game, it was a struggle for the batsmen in what turned out to be a tough pitch where the bowlers held sway.

Pacie Lahiru Kumara with his pace and bounce picked up two early wickets in his opening spell of two overs and the rest of the batting was then consumed by spinners Tabraiz Shamsi (4/20), Seekkuge Prasanna (3/14) and Shakib Al Hasan (1/8) who wreaked havoc as Colombo were bundled out in 15.4 overs.

It was a new pitch and a tough one to bat on as the Colombo batsmen were soon to find out after being inserted in by Galle. But some of their dismissals were due to the batsman’s own undoing. Colombo’s batting had always looked brittle especially the middle order and once Kumara had removed openers Pathum Nissanka and Babar Azam, it was a real struggle to post a competitive total. It was a low scoring game but full of excitement.

Scores: 

• Colombo: 74 (15.4) (Lahiru Udara 14, Nuwanidu Fernando 14, Lahiru Kumara 2/9, Tabraiz Shamsi 4/20, Seekkuge Prasanna 3/14)
• Galle Titans: 75-2 (8.3) (Lasith Croospulle 42*)

[TAKE FINAL STANDINGS]