The third edition of the Lanka Premier League is fast approaching towards its business end, with the final leg of the tournament action to now take place at the R Premadasa Stadium, in Colombo.
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With only six league matches left in the ongoing season, it is now effectively a race for finishing at either the first or the second spot, in order to have two shots at making it to the grand finale scheduled to take place on December 23.
It has been a season to forget for the Dambulla Aura, who have lost each of their five league matches, to find themselves all but out of the tournament. One more loss will eliminate them altogether from this year’s edition.
In a bid to somehow turn around their fortune and remain alive in the tournament, they will face the Galle Gladiators tomorrow, who are placed at the fourth spot in the table at present with two wins off five matches.
Eyes will be on the skipper Dasun Shanaka and the star Southpaw batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa, to somehow come up with an inspirational performance or two, and pull the Dambulla side out from the deeply dug hole.
R Premadasa Stadium pitch report
One of the oldest Cricket grounds in Sri Lanka, the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo has recorded an average score of 152.8 across all the T20 matches here since 2004.
Akin most stadiums in Sri Lanka, this one in Colombo assists mostly the spinners, who do manage to extract decent turn off the surface right away.
The batters will enjoy their time in the middle, as the pitch here is generally flat, albeit having the tendency to slow down as the match progresses. The low bounce at this surface might well act as the only hurdle that the batters will face when timing the ball.
The outcomes at this venue might well be decided by how efficiently the captains use their spinners.
