LPL-5 reaches its business end with playoffs

Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando the leading run-getters with 311 runs each

•  Qualifier 1 and Eliminator today

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The last leg of the Lanka Premier League-5 comprising six matches played at the R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo is complete. The focus now shifts to the business end of the tournament commencing with the playoffs.

Today’s double-header clash is between the top two teams in the league Galle Marvels and Jaffna Kings who will play in Qualifier 1 at 3 p.m, and the third and fourth teams, Colombo Strikers and defending champions Kandy Falcons in the Eliminator at 7.30 pm.

The first match will not see either side eliminated as the team that wins will go straight into the final, whereas the loser gets another opportunity when they face the winner of the Eliminator in Qualifier 2. The team that loses the Eliminator will go out of the tournament.

At the end of the league round, Galle and Jaffna finished neck and neck and proved to be the top two sides and deserving to be where they are. The only team that could have challenged their positions was Colombo Strikers, who let slip a golden opportunity when they lost their final league match to Dambulla Sixers.

Dambulla could consider themselves the unluckiest team in the tournament. Nevertheless, they fought till the end and went out of the competition with their heads held high by beating Colombo convincingly. The win didn’t help Dambulla qualify for the playoffs, but they would rue their match against Galle which they lost in the Super Over. Dambulla had all but won the match, but allowed Galle to crawl back and tie the game and force it into a Super Over which actually cost them the match. Had that match gone Dambulla’s way they wouldn’t have been going home, but be still in the competition.

Kandy on the other hand should consider themselves lucky to be still in the running to win the tournament and retain the title. They have not stamped their authority as they did last year, but only shown glimpses of it. In fact Kandy became champions last year largely due to their Captain Wanindu Hasaranga’s outstanding contribution with the bat as well as the ball. It was the leadership qualities that he displayed in taking Kandy to the championship that swayed the national selectors’ belief to make him the national T20I captain. Unfortunately, Hasaranga could not continue in the same vein with the national team and a disastrous T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies eventually led to him stepping down from the captaincy after only a short stint at the top.

No sooner had he shed the responsibilities as national Captain Hasaranga was back to his best with Kandy when he displayed all his former skills in guiding them to an all-important win in their final league game against Dambulla which they won handsomely to improve their net run rate from minus to plus. That change paid off in the end for Kandy as they edged out Dambulla for a place in the play-offs with a better net run rate. Hasaranga excelled in all three departments to pick the match award. Having come into the playoffs not in a rather convincing fashion, Kandy will want to shed the tag of being there by sheer luck by going and winning the trophy for the second successive time.      

For Charith Asalanka who is tipped to succeed Hasaranga to the Sri Lanka T20I captaincy this is an ideal opportunity to show the selectors that he is the right man for the job by leading Jaffna to the LPL title. Jaffna’s success has been their powerful batting line up where Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando are the top run getters in the current tournament with 311 runs apiece. Nissanka and South African Rilee Rousouw have each made a hundred and all three of them Nissanka, Fernando and Roussow along with Asalanka display impressive strike rates of over 160, which is awesome.

Having led his club NCC to win the Major Club T20 title, Niroshan Dickwella will be keen to extend that run in the LPL by captaining Galle to lift the cup. His inspired leadership has been the result of Galle finishing on top of the league standings. But now comes the real crunch where there is no room for mistakes if the title is to be won.

Colombo’s success has been their bowling where Pakistan leg-spinner Shadab Khan is the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 16 wickets that includes two hat-tricks, and pacies Matheesha Pathirana (12 wickets) and Binura Fernando (10) and spinner Dunith Wellalage (9) have been handled so skilfully by the captain Thisara Perera who will be looking for his fourth LPL title having led Jaffna to victories in the first three.