Qais stuns Dambulla to take Colombo top

By Shamseer Jaleel reporting from Sooriyawewa

The Colombo Kings booked a date with the Galle Gladiators in the semifinals of the LPL, after they beat the Dambulla Viiking by six wickets at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Sooriyawewa last night.

The Kings, who had rested both Isuru Udana and Andre Russell for this encounter, won the toss and put the Viiking into bat on what was a good batting track. Niroshan Dickwella and Samit Patel batted beautifully collecting runs at a good clip, as the pair put on 50 runs in quick time before Patel was clean bowled by Qais Ahmed. Dambulla were then shell-shocked when they lost Upul Tharanga the very next delivery. Dickwella and Angelo Perera though both batted brilliantly to put on 94 for the third wicket which proved the backbone of the Dambulla innings. Dickwella’s 65 came off only 40 balls, while Angelo’s 74 came off a brisk 51 deliveries. Dickwella however would lose his wicket going for quick runs to Angelo Mathews. Dasun Shanaka would then put on an unbroken 59-run stand with Angelo as Dambulla ended on 203 for 3 in their 20 overs.

The Colombo Kings taking lease of the wicket lost Dinesh Chandimal (3) with just 20 runs on the board, however Laurie Evans continued where he left off against the Jaffna Stallions, smashing a 24-ball 53, before he was forced to retire hurt having taken a blow from the express Lahiru Kumara. This brought Lahiru Udara to the wicket, but he was given out LBW for a duck - though it seemed an odd decision not to review the call as replays showed the ball appearing to strike his bat before going on to the his pad. At 79 Colombo lost their third wicket when Daniel Bell-Drummond edged one to Dickwella behind the stumps for 14. Ashan Priyanjan then joined Thikshila De Silva at the wicket, and the pair went on put on a 49-run stand off just 27 balls. Thikshila, whose 31 off 16 had seen him make up the bulk of the scoring, however fell with the score on 128 after slicing one high to cover. 

But then the game would begin to change after Qais and Priyanjan began batting with some authority, to initially add respectability to the score. With 18 deliveries remaining the Kings still needed 35 to win, but the tone of the game would change off the penultimate ball of an otherwise excellent Kumara over; following a series of brilliant yorkers and bouncers, Qais would absolutely wallop a length ball from Kumara for six. Not only would this bring the equation down to 23 from 12, it would awaken Qais’ inner Andre Russell, as he would hit four sixes - three of them consecutive - off the first five deliveries of the next over - bowled by a disbelieving Anwar Ali - as the Kings cruised home.

Qais finished unbeaten on 50 off just 22 deliveries, inclusive of five sixes and two fours, while Priyanjan was unbeaten 47 off 28.

Colombo will now play Galle on 13 December in their semi-final encounter. Meanwhile Dambulla who finished second in the group will face Jaffna on 14 December in the other semifinal. Both matches will commence at 8 p.m.