Dambulla Aura (DA) defeated Jaffna Kings (JK) by nine runs in the 11th match of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) on Monday at Pallekele International Stadium. The Aura, on the other hand, surged to the top of the table with six points and a net run rate of 0.364 after winning three out of five games.
Jaffna Kings were made to fight for runs in their run chase of 135 runs and were unable to come to terms with pace trio Hasan Ali, Binura Fernando, and Hayden Kerr who combined well to send them reeling to 27 for 4 in the seventh over as they were restricted to a score of 125 runs.
Shoaib Malik’s half-century goes in vain
Shoaib Malik was the Kings’ top performer, but it was in vain. The veteran concluded his first LPL 2023 encounter with stats of 4-0-13-2. He took important wickets of Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva as the Kings limited the Aura to 134 runs. Malik received no support from his teammates throughout the run-chase.
He batted to the end, scoring 74 runs off 53 balls with five fours and six sixes. The former Pakistan captain struck Noor Ahmed for three sixes and a four with 34 runs required off the penultimate over. However, Malik was fighting a losing battle since he had no backup from the other hitters.
Hasan Ali was chosen as the man of the match after finishing with numbers 4-0-20-3. Binura Fernando, Noor Ahmad, and Hayden Kerr each took one wicket. The Pakistan pacer, stated, “We were thinking of putting up 160+ but as a bowling unit we thought if we believed in ourselves we could win this game. Just focused on bowling on a hard length. We had plans, luckily we got some early wickets and put them under pressure. The surface wasn’t that easy though, ball wasn’t coming on to the bat. Credit to Shoaib Malik though, he always makes it look easy. Unfortunately for him, they couldn’t win.”
In the day match, Colombo Strikers beat the Galle Titans by seven wickets after Babar Azam scored his 10th T20 hundred.
Here’s how fans reacted:
Mashallah congratulations
— Babar amin156 (@Babaram25450737) August 8, 2023
Well done Kusal doing the interview in Sinhalese.
— JR (@jrlanka) August 7, 2023
Oh!Wow!That is extremely so fantastic as he's a spectacular all-rounder in his career n almost won for Jaffna Kings after d first match of d tournament yesterday n even I did feel a bit nervous though in d last overs before Hassan Ali n Noor Ahmad restricted some runs!??
— DGuy (@Superb_Talent1) August 7, 2023
Well done to both of them as well as Shoaib Malik boss for scoring seventy plus runs against my beloved Dambulla Aura for Jaffna Kings despite his cricket team losing,sexy good friend!!!????
— DGuy (@Superb_Talent1) August 7, 2023
Brilliant effort by Shoaib Malik but couldn't carry Jaffna Kings over the line ?#LPL2023 #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/kc3HpaUCLa
— WaJii khan (@WaJiikhan10) August 7, 2023
Our hasso our proud
— Hassamyah.32 (@Hassamyah3) August 7, 2023
he is best all-rounder in t20 format, and match finisher as well.@realshoaibmalik take a bow & huge respect for him.
Great All-rounder Of All Time Pakistan Produced.#LPL2023 #ShoaibMalik— YASH KHAN SALMAN (@yashkhan2417) August 8, 2023
Shoaib Malik boss deserved the "Best Strikers Award" despite losing to my beloved Dambulla Aura,good friend!!!Well done to him and he will have a fantastic season in this cricket league for sure,good friend!!!????
— DGuy (@Superb_Talent1) August 7, 2023
