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Dambulla Aura has secured their place in the final of the Lankan Premier League, LPL. Today, they faced off Galle Titans in the first qualifier, where Dambulla beat them by six wickets to reach the final of this tournament.
Lankan batter Kusal Mendis played a brilliant knock to help his team reaching in the final for the very first time in the history of this tournament. However, Galle Titans still have a chance to play the final. They will play against the winner of the Qualifier 2. If Galle Titans could beat the winner of the Qualifier 2, they will play the final.
Match Report
Kusal Mendis, the captain of Dambulla Aura, won the toss and opted to bowl first. Therefore, Galle Titans started their batting innings with Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Lasith Croospulle. Unfortunately, they failed to build up a partnership from the beginning. Galle Titans lost their first wicket in the very first over as Binura Fernando picked up Bhanuka Rajapaksa.
Liton Kumar Das, batter from Bangladesh, continues his poor form in this tournament. He returned to the pavilion after scoring only 8 runs. However, opener Lasith Croospulle tried hard to make a partnership with the follower batter, Shakib Al Hasan. They added 51 runs together on the scoreboard. They both were looking good, but Shakib Al Hasan lost his wicket in the 9.3 over after scoring 19 off 17.
Opener Lasith Croospulle had a fantastic innings, but the other batsmen couldn’t continue. Lasith Croospulle scored a quick 80 runs from 61 balls with seven boundaries. Relying on his bat, Galle Titans ended their innings with 146 runs.
Chasing the target, Dambulla Aura had a good opening partnership. Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis added 33 runs in the first wicket. However, the first blood was drawn in the 3.4 over as Avishka Fernando departed with 24 runs.
However, captain Kusal Mendis had a good knock. Unfortunately, the captain missed the half-century only for one run, losing the wicket in 49 runs.
Before returning to the pavilion, Kusal Mendis made another partnership with Kusal Perera. They added 69 runs together on the scoreboard, making the basement for Dambulla Aura. Although Kusal Mendis departed with 49 runs, Kusal Perera scored the highest 53 runs from 39 balls. Relying on their bats, Dambulla Aura chased the target with two balls in their hands. As a result, Dambulla won the game by six wickets and reached the final of the Lankan Premier League.
Dasun Shanaka’s reaction to losing
Dasun Shanak shared his thoughts after losing the game. He said, “We had our chances to score 160-170, but we gave our wickets at crucial times. Croospulle was going from one end but myself, Shakib, and Najib are guys that have to click on this wicket but we didn’t. It was a tough ask, we had our five bowlers and I wanted to go with them.”
