Stallions meet Gladiators at LPL today | Daily News

Stallions meet Gladiators at LPL today

Thisara Perera and his charges are brimming with confidence and will go all out to snatch another win and maintain their unbeaten record when they confront Galle Gladiators, while Dambulla Viiking – who pulled off a spectacular win to halt the unbeaten run of Colombo Kings - will fire on all their cylinders to outsmart the reeling Kandy Tuskers in their Lanka Premier League (LPL) cricket encounters at the MRICS Hambanthota today commencing from 3.30 p.m. onwards.

With his two flamboyant match winning innings in the last two games when his team was reeling, Thisara Perera rescued and led Jaffna Stallions to post spectacular wins. The two swashbuckling innings utilizing fewer number of balls comprised some power packed boundaries and equally struck towering sixes.

He also played a pivotal role with the ball to strangle the rival batsmen for low scores.

He has now become the cynosure of all eyes in the tournament as a local all-round player, but more importantly, guiding his team to win games.

When compared with the composition of other teams’ in the fray, those teams have some big match winning players in their ranks. However, the important factor is that Thisara has matured and remains calm and manipulates the bowlers to perfection to make the breakthrough at regular intervals, after posting a challenging target. They are the only team to remain unbeaten and to post a net run rate of over two percent.

On the other hand, Galle Gladiators led by Shahid Afridi, has failed to make an impact so far in the tournament and lost all three games. They got some flying starts in most of the matches through their dashing left hander Danushka Gunatallike, but the middle order failed to carry on to lay a solid platform and post challenging totals for the bowlers to feel confident. Some of the big names have failed to live up to expectations and deliver the goods, which is a big worry for skipper Afridi. As per team sources they have had several meetings yesterday - which was an off day - and are eager to put up an improved performance today. Both teams will finalize their playing eleven before the game after a pitch inspection.

Meanwhile, in the second game Dambulla Viiking will have another herculean task against Kandy Tuskers. Led by Dasun Shanaka they managed to secure a convincing win by creating an upset and overcoming the strong Colombo Kings team.

They too possess some international match winners who are yet to find their rhythm.

The Kandy Tuskers are a side going through a bad patch. Their fielding has become their main cause for concern and has led them down very badly. Coached by former National player Hashan Tillekeratne, they will no doubt have done their homework during yesterday’s break, and can come up with an improved performance today.