Avishka Fernando Maiden T20 Hundred Takes Jaffna Kings Into LPL Final

Avishka Fernando first century of the LPL season, combined with the tournament’s first 200-plus score, pushed the Jaffna Kings to a 23-run victory over the Dambulla Giants, securing a spot in Thursday’s final against the Galle Gladiators.

Chamika Karunaratne’s late attack was responsible for the Giants’ narrow defeat. Karunaratne finished undefeated on 75 off 47 deliveries, a knock that will leave them wondering what may have been.

Dambulla fall short as Avishka Fernando and Rahmanullah Gurbaz share 170 runs

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The Giants were inefficient with both bat and ball at crucial moments. Too many of Dambulla’s batters failed to capitalise on promising starts after being handed a mammoth goal of 211.

Phil Salt, the LPL’s leading run-scorer, looked dangerous but top-edged a short, slightly slower one from Suranga Lakmal; Niroshan Dickwella looked like he was about to do some serious damage but then whipped out a reverse sweep to no avail; and Najbullah Zadran had tonked two sixes in his 15-ball 25, before top-edging a heave over cover.

Karunaratne’s knock could have been a match-winning one if any of them had stayed a bit longer.

Then there were a slew of misfields in the field, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who would go on to destroy the Dambulla bowlers en route to a 40-ball 70, was dropped twice, once on 11 and then on 32. He and Avishka would put up a 122-run opening stand, and the two would account for 170 of the Kings’ 210 runs.

Stars of the day

Where better to start than with Avishka? Everyone behind the scenes at Sri Lanka Cricket has been trying to break the secret on how to consistently get the best out of him since he made his national debut at the 2019 World Cup.

His exceptional hand-eye coordination has been visible since he was a child, but there have been concerns about him being undone by top-notch pace and lateral movement at the highest level.

At this year’s T20 World Cup, a patchwork solution was found when he was moved to the middle order, allowing him to get his eye in before unleashing. This worked well in the first round, but he was unable to replicate his success in the World Cup itself.

Turning point

In a game where two players account for 80 percent of the runs scored in a single inning. It’s difficult to pinpoint a tipping point. The Giants, on the other hand, will undoubtedly wonder what could have been if they had hung on to their chances against Gurbaz. Or simply been a little bit better on the field.

There were several half-chances at runouts that were not taken advantage of. And the number of misfields surpassed the number of wickets.

The Kings, on the other hand, were all in from the start. Wanindu Hasaranga was running 40 meters and diving forward at full speed to hold on. To a similar chance presented by Salt while Tahir was dumping a skier from Gurbaz.

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