Jaffna Kings Put Highest-Ever Total of LPL; Won by 51 Runs Against Dambulla Aura

It’s the 8^th match of the Lanka Premier League wherein Jaffna Kings and Dambulla Aura locked horns to overpower each other. Dambulla Aura was seeking to register its first win of this season while Jaffna Kings was looking to register a win after their previous loss. Dambulla Aura won the toss and invited Jaffna Kings to bat first and that turned out be the disastrous decision for them. Gurbaz and Fernando opened for Jaffna Kings while Ratnayake opened the attack for Dambulla. Rahmanullah Gurbaz didn't take long to get going, hitting back-to-back fours in the first over. The bloodshed has only just begun. The openers for Jaffna Kings attacked the Dambulla bowlers, and the fifty was reached in 19 deliveries. Gurbaz raised his fifty off just 20 deliveries by intentionally hitting fours and sixes. The score read 73/0 at the conclusion of the powerplay. In the ninth over, the Kings reached 100 runs. Fernando appeared to be playing second fiddle, but with his half-ton coming up in just 27 balls, he wasn't far behind. In the eleventh over, Kumara broke the 133-run opening stand, as both openers were bowled inside the space of six deliveries. The brand-new Jaffna batters came out firing. The experienced Shoaib Malik made a brief appearance, the hot-shot Samarawickrama hit six boundaries, and captain Perera put the finishing touches on Jaffna's 240 total. This is the biggest ever total registered in the history of the Lanka Premier League. Dambulla batters had to bat out of their skins to win this match. In the run chase, Shevon Daniel and Jordan Cox came on the crease while Madushanka opened the attack for Jaffna Kings. Both openers cleared their intention right from the first over hitting 13 off the first over. After 2 overs, the score was 26-0 but soon Cox got caught at deep backward square leg at 5 off 6 balls in the 3^rd over which was also gone maiden one. Shevon and Rajapaksa tried to stabilize Dambulla’s innings and run rate with boundaries and doubles bring the score at 44-1 in 5 overs. However, Shevon couldn’t contribute much after that as he was dismissed by Fernando in the 6^th over at 29 (20). After 10 overs, the scoreboard showed 91-3. Shanaka was looking confident and could have brought Dambulla back into the game but was dismissed by Lakshina at 44 (23). This was a big wicket for Jaffna Kings that cleared their way to win this match. After 15 overs, Dambulla was at 143-4. Soon, the pressure came back to Dambulla’s batters as they kept giving away their wickets. In the 19^th over, Dambulla needed 55 runs and only had 3 wickets remaining. Theekshana didn’t show any mercy to tailenders and dismissed Ratnayake on the 3^rd ball of the last over. The match concluded with a win of 51 runs for Jaffna Kings as Dambulla Aura could only manage to put 189/8 on the scoreboard in 20 overs.