By Srian Obeyesekere
Kandy Falcons knocked out Colombo Strikers out of contention, but in a typical jaws of defeat to ecstatic thunder back 2-wicket win from the hopelessness of 5 for 82 well into the 11th over, thanks to the twosome of Kamindu Mendis who scored a 36 ball half century and Dasun Shanaka who ultimately hogged the greater credit by an out of this world 39 off 21 dramatized by 2 over the top and 4 across in a dramatic night play-off that went down to the wire in the night decider of the Eliminator (3 vs 4) at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium.
After Mendis had done the early repair work when Kandy was reeling on 3 for 38 when he took strike, it was Dasun Shanaka who rose in big hitting stature given the 6 for 63 terrible situation Kandy Falcons was in when the former Lankan captain entered the fray to winning with8 balls to spare.
Accordingly, Kandy Falcons, skippered by Wanindu Hasaranga, will take on Jaffna Kings in the Qualifier 2 to be played tomorrow at the same venue at 7.30 p.m. to decide the second finalist. The winner of tomorrow’s game will take on Galle Marvels who went through on Thursday defeating Jaffna Kings by 7 wickets.
According to the tournament rules, the loser of yesterday’s Qualifier 1 takes on the winner of yesterday’s Eliminator.
Kandy Falcons scored 163 for 8 wickets off 18.4 overs having contained Colombo Strikers to 159 for 8 off 20 overs who were put into bat with Kmindu Mendis hammering a decisive Player of the Match 54 off 36 balls hitting 3 sixes and an equal number of boundaries in digging his side out of 3 wickets down for 38 calamity after Dinesh Chandimal had fallen for 6 to the fourth ball of the innings off Binura Fernando who had him caught by Sadeera Samarawickrama with the score 6, Mohammad Haris for 10 another Fernando victim held by Isitha Wijesundera – 2 for 22 after 2.2 overs and Andre Fletcher for 20.
The repair job between Mendis and next man in Angelo Mathews took the score to 64 when Mathews went for 10 to the fourth ball of the eighth over and it became worse when skipper Hasaranga was snuffed out for 1 by Shadab Khan who had him caught by Muhamad Waseem reducing Kandy to 65 for 5 after 8.1 overs.
Indeed, the 25- year-old Mendis stood his end to unleashing a defining innings to pulling his side out of the jaws of defeat to an ecstatic triumph as he rode further disaster seeing next in Chathuranga de Silva removed by Matheesha Pathirana for 9 as Kandy Falcons tottered on 6 for 83 after 10.2.
ENTER DASUN SHANAKA
Enter Dasun Shanaka to the fore at No. 8 as the former Lankan captain unleashed the innings hitting 4 boundaries and 2 over the top in a 69=run seventh-wicket onslaught together with Mendis off 40 balls, Shanaka was bowled by Binura Fernndo for his third wicket by the last delivery of the 17th over with the Falcons on 152 for 7 and when Mendis was bowled by Pathirana in the very next delivery of the 18th over Kandy Falcons was still not out of the woods as Colombo Strikers bounced back strongly. But Batting all-rounder Ramesh Mendis held fort hitting the winning boundary off Dunith Wellalage to remaining on 5 with Chamath Gomez on 2 in a truly dramatic finish.
Colombo Strikers innings hinged on a back to form 62 off 45 come-back from a long low by Sadeera Samarawickrama who struck 7 boundaries in a career redeeming knock with a next best of 30 off 29 by Rahmanullah Gurbaz at the top of the orde
CHIEF SCORES:
Colombo Strikers 159/8 (20 Overs) (Sadeera Samarawickrama 62, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 30, Dunith Wellalage 28, Nipun Dhananjaya 14, Muhammad Waseem 10, Mohammad Hasnain 3/24, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/21, Angelo Mathews 1/13, Dasun Shanaka 1/33)
Kandy Falcons 163/8 (18.4 Overs) (Kamindu Mendis 54, Dasun Shanaka 39, Mohammad Haris 10, Angelo Mathews 10, Ramesh Mendis n.o. 5, Chamath Gomez n.o. 2, Binura Fernando 3/35, Matheesha Pathirana 3/38, Isitha Wjesundara 1/20, Shadab Khan 1/33)
