Trinidad and Tobago fast bowler Jayden Seales made an immediate impact with the ball Todday ( 23) fire Jaffna Kings to second successive LPL title as they beat Galle Gladiators by 23 runs in the final of Lanka Premier League Final 2021 held today at Sooriyawewa International Cricket Stadium.
Seales is Third on the list of top wicket-takers in the tournament with 15 scalps in just 7 matches. Galle Galdiators’ Samit Patel & Jaffna Kings’ Spiner Maheesh Theekshana of the tops the list with 16 wickets in 10 matches.
Jaffna Kings skipper Thisara Perera won the all-important toss in the final and chose to bat first with an unchanged side whereas Galle Gladiators strengthened their batting bringing in Ben Dunk and Dhananjaya Lakshan replacing Sahan Arachchige and Anwar Ali.
Avishka Fernando and Rahmanullah Gurbaz opened the batting for Jaffna Kings and provided a flying start putting on a 56-run partnership in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2021 final against Galle Gladiators, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shoaib Malik, and Thisara Perera muscled Jaffna Kings to a total of 201 for 3, and then their superb attack closed the match down.
Chasing a 200+ target, Gunathilaka came out all guns blazing, blasted a 19-ball half-century and brought the asking-rate under 9RPO in the fourth over. Wanindu Hasaranga was greeted with a one-bounce four but the wrist-spinner removed the dangerous Gunathilaka with his second ball. Ben Dunk perished first ball and Hafeez threw his wicket away via a run-out.
After the dismissal of Gunathilaka, Gladiators slowed down a bit with the fall of 3 quick wickets in 13 balls putting them under some pressure at 84 for 3 in 6.2 overs. Mendis managed to hold onto one end playing an anchor role but with his dismissal in the 14th over put an end to the hopes of Gladiators as they handed a 23-run victory for Jaffna Kings. The Gladiators never recovered from those blows as Jaffna kept exerting pressure. Special mention to their fielding too – the Kings were brilliant in the field unlike their opponents.
Brief scores: Jaffna Kings 201/3 in 20 overs (Avishka Fernando 63, Kohler-Cadmore 57, : M Amir 1-39)beat Gladiators 178-9 in 20 overs (Danushka Gunathilaka 54, Kusal Mendis 39; Jayden Seales 1-36, Wanindu Hasaranga 2-30,) by 23 runs.
