High-flying Colombo faces the struggling Galle in the Monday evening clash of Sri Lanka T20 League 2020. Colombo has assured its semifinal berth, while Galle is still looking for two points to find the spot in the top four.
Match Timings: Dec 07, 3:30 PM
Team Preview
The first edition of the Sri Lanka T20 League is in its final stage, and the race for the semifinals is high. After defeating Jaffna in its previous encounter, Angelo Mathew’s Colombo has also qualified for the semi-finals. They joined Jaffna in the playoffs, and now, Colombo will look to take the top spot in the table. The table-toppers will face the fourth-spot side, so Angelo Mathews would aim to carry the winning streak on Monday.
On Friday, Colombo edged past strong Jaffna by 6 wickets, riding on Chandimal’s unbeaten finish. Qais Ahmed’s 3-wickets haul helped Colombo to restrict Jaffna to 148, which is a par score on Hambantota. The skipper also bowled economically with conceding just 9 in 3-overs. Colombo lost two in the powerplay, but they maintained the run-rate, and with Chandimal’s second half-century of the season, they chased down the target with four balls spare.
Colombo has founded its best combination. Dinesh Chandimal and Laurie Evans both got runs. Qais Ahmed and Dushmantha Chameera are charging the bowling unit. Russell is already a great inclusion to their side. The skipper would expect some runs from Kent player Drummond who failed to convert his start. For one more time, Colombo are the favourites to win this match.
Meanwhile, Galle are still fighting for the fourth spot, and with three more games remaining, the struggling Galle has to fire. They missed the opportunity in the previous game but fell short of 9 runs in a chase of 208, despite a stunning effort from Gunathilaka who scored the third half-century of the season. Azam Khan was a positive sign who scored a fabulous half-century.
Kandy is Galle’s main rival for the fourth spot, and Rajapaksa-led side has one game with Kandy as well, so the fight for the last semifinals spot will be pretty intense. Danushka Gunathilaka is doing very well from the top, scoring 284 runs in the tournament, including three half-centuries. The top-order needs to support him, and the middle-order would also need good composure. Bowling is also a weak part of Galle as we haven’t seen a match-winning spell from its bowlers. Rajapaksa’s troops require to play out of its skin to find two points against Colombo.
Pitch Report
Hambantota’s surface is purely a batting surface, and we cannot expect a turn-around for this game. Being the first game of the day, spinners can trouble in middle-overs. Chasing would be a great call on this surface.
Possible XI
Colombo
Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Laurie Evans, Thikshila de Silva, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Angelo Mathews (c), Andre Russell, Ashan Priyanjan, Isuru Udana, Qais Ahmad, Dushmantha Chameera, Tharindu Kaushal
Galle
Danushka Gunathilaka, Ahsan Ali, Azam Khan (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa (c), Chadwick Walton, Milinda Siriwardana, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Mohammad Amir, Lakshan Sandakan, Asitha Fernando
Key Players
Colombo
Dinesh Chandimal
Domestic season 2020 – M: 8, Runs: 1027, Avg: 93.36
SL T20 League 2020 – M: 4, Runs: 148, Avg: 74
Qais Ahmad
SL T20 League 2020 – M: 4, Wickets: 5, Avg: 19.80
Galle
Danushka Gunathilaka
SL T20 League – M: 5, Runs: 284, Avg: 56.80
Previous outing: 78 (52)
Anwar Ali
Last T20I outing: 37/3
