The seventh match of the ongoing third edition of the Lanka Premier League 2022, will be played between the Colombo Stars and the Galle Gladiators at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium tomorrow (Sunday).
Advertisement
On the back of a fine half-century off the bat of wicket-keeper batter Niroshan Dickwella (62 off 41) and some disciplined bowling performance from the pacers, the Colombo Stars had managed to get the first points under their name in the league, after a disastrous 109-run loss against Kandy Falcons in their opening match.
The Galle Gladiators, on the other hand, have suffered back-to-back losses in their two initial matches, to sit at the bottom of the points table presently.
They too had lost their last encounter against the Falcons, and versus the Jaffna Kings in the tournament opener, with the batting department letting them down on both the occasions.
They will yet again rely on the likes of their skipper Kusal Mendis, who scored a half-century in the first match, as well as the aggressive Pakistani batters in their side – Azam Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed, both of who had displayed decent hitting form during the recently concluded Abu Dhabi T10 League 2022.
Pallekele Stadium pitch report
During the first LPL 2022 match at the Pallekele Stadium on Saturday, the pitch was conducive enough for the batters, despite the Jaffna Kings managing to post only 147 runs on the board in their 20 Overs.
The Kandy Falcons allrounder Chamika Karunaratne exclaimed the same during the innings break. “It was a good total but the wicket looks good. We have a good batting line up and hopefully we can chase it,” observed Karunaratne.
The average score across the 52 complete T20 matches at this venue so far, stands at 161.6, which reaffirms the same.
The day match will rule the dew factor out of the equation, and which might well tempt the captain to bat first upon winning the Toss.
