Dhananjaya takes four to steer Dambulla to sixth win

An impressive match haul of 4 for 6 in two overs by stand-in skipper Dhananjaya de Silva paved the way for Dambulla Aura to record a comfortable 20-run win over B-Love Kandy in their Lanka Premier League T20 encounter played at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Monday.

Skipper de Silva wrecked the early batting of B-Love Kandy, in pursuit of 163 runs for victory, and despite a fighting knock of 50 in 46 balls with six boundaries by Dinesh Chandimal, they were able to muster a score of only 142 runs giving Dambulla Aura their sixth win of the tournament.

In fact this was the fifth straight win for Dambulla Aura after their defeat to the same opponent by seven wickets in the first round match played at the same venue.

B-Love Kandy in their run chase of 163 runs underwent an early setback as they lost openers Mohammad Haris and Fakhar Zaman cheaply with the score on 12 in the second over with de Silva doing the damage.

This followed with Dinesh Chandimal and skipper Wanindu Hasaranga coming to the rescue of their side.

The pair added 35 runs for the third wicket before Sachitha Jayatileke, playing in his first match for Dambulla Aura, made the breakthrough with the wicket of Hasaranga for 19.

Chandimal joined by Angelo Mathews put up stiff resistance but de Silva struck again, bagging two wickets in second and fifth ball of his second over, that of Mathews, who made 26 and shared 41 runs with Chandimal for the fourth wicket, and Chathuranga de Silva, with Kandy reeling on 90 for 5 in the 12th over.

This left Chandimal stranded and with B-Love Kandy on 102 for 7 in the 14th over and left with the task of making 61 runs from 41 balls, the former Sri Lanka captain was dismissed to seal the fate of B-Love Kandy even though a knock of 23 coming from Isuru Udana in the latter stages threatened.

Dambulla Aura invited to take first lease of the wicket saw openers Avishka Fernando and Sadeera Samarawickrama giving the side a sound start posting 50 runs on the board in just 33 balls before they were separated with left arm spinner Chathurnga de Silva making the breakthrough with the wicket of Samarawickrama who made 31 in in 26 balls that included six boundaries, sharing a 61 runs stand with Fernando.

Fernando was the next to go falling victim to right arm spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman for 41 off 27 balls which had three boundaries and three sixes and with Dambulla Aura on 80 for 2 Mujeeb Ur Rahman struck again when he rattled Lakshan Edirisinghe’s wicket one run later.

Ben McDermott and Dhananjaya de Silva shared a brief stand of 23 runs before right arm pacie Nuwan Pradeep dealt a double blow with the wicket of skipper de Silva and then followed it up with the scalp of Alex Ross but was unfortunate to miss out on a hat-trick.

McDermott along with Hayden Kerr seemed to have things under control and was making smooth progress and with the pair having added 38 runs for the sixth wicket skipper Wanindu Hasaranga got rid of McDermott who chipped in with a 23-ball knock of 37 inclusive of three boundaries and two sixes.

With Dambulla Aura on 142 for 6 in the 18th over and two overs left to negotiate, Kerr along with Sachitha Jayatileke added 20 runs before the former became the third victim of Pradeep in the last ball of the innings, for Dambulla Aura to end with a score of 162 for 7.

(By M. Shamil Amit)

Result:

Dambulla Aura 162 for 7 in 20 overs (Avishka Fernando 41, Ben McDermott 37, Sadeera Samarawickrama 31, Hayden Kerr 27: Nuwan Pradeep 3 for 35, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2 for 32)

B-Love Kandy 142 in 19.4 overs (Dinesh Chandimal 50, Angelo Mathews 26, Isuru Udana 23, Wanindu Hasaranga 19: Dhananjaya de Silva 4 for 6, Pramod Madushan 2 for 27)