Brilliant performance by Bhanuka Rajapaksa for St Lucia Kings (SLK) not only won the match for his team but also qualified them for the playoffs. They defeated Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) by 7 wickets.
GAW scored 167/5 in 20 overs which SLK chased down in 17.3 overs and scored 170/3.
It was the Warriors first loss in this year’s CPL. They remain undefeated in their last 6 matches. In their last match they defeated Jamaica Tallawahs by 7 wickets by a superb knock of Saim Ayub. On the other hand, it was a must win match for the Kings as the win will surely make them qualify for the playoffs and they did it. They lost their last match against Trinbago Knight Riders by 7 wickets.
After winning the toss Guyana Captain Imran Tahir opted to bat first as he wanted to experiment with the situation by batting first.
The decision didn’t go well as they lost their first wicket in just 10 runs of Matthew Nandu (3 runs). Then the consistent performer Saim Ayub (16 runs) who hit 3 consecutive fifties went cheaply this time and batted little slow as he took 20 balls to reach there.
Shai Hope (38 runs) and Azam Khan (40 runs) after that provided some stability to the team innings. Azam showed some destruction from his side as he took only 25 balls and hit 4 fours and 3 sixes. Shimron Hetmyer and Keemo Paul both scored 19 runs in the end and put the team total to 167 runs in 20 overs by losing 5 wickets.
Alzarri Joseph took 2 wickets while Sikander Raza and Matthew Forde got 1 wicket each.
During the chase, Kings lost Johnson Charles (1 run) early on. After that a partnership of 132 runs was generated for the 2nd wicket between Colin Munro (55 runs) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (86 runs). Rajapaksa was looking aggressive from the beginning and hit 9 fours and 5 sixes in his innings. On the other hand Munro supported him pretty well and hit 6 fours and 2 sixes.
In the end two Zimbabwean Sean Williams (8 runs) and Sikander Raza (12 runs) took their to victory seat as they scored 170 runs in 17.3 overs by losing only 3 wickets.
With this victory SLK became the 3rd team after Guyana and Trinbago to make their place for the playoffs.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa, SLK, Player of the Match
“First praise the lord for glory and favour. It’s always nice when Sri Lanka wins, here we had a match out of nowhere, quite happy we qualified for the second consecutive time. Sammy before the match said go and give me a match to remember. It has always been nice, we knew we needed the two points and happy that we got it before our last game. The timings are different. Hope I can catch up but more important is us winning here.”
Imran Tahir, GAW Captain
“We wanted to be in that situation, that’s why we batted first. There’s nothing to worry and going forward we have to improve. We did not bowl well other than that we achieved what we wanted to achieve. The pitch yesterday played up and down and it was the same today. Saim Ayub has got a bit of groin issue but he should be fine. He needs rest. We need to go back and plan for the next game.”
Sikander Raza, SLK Captain
“I feel a little bit of relief. You always don’t want to be in a position when you are in a must win going into the last game. Alzarri is bringing heat on heat. He bowled well with the wet ball and I thought he did really well. Bhanuka is unbelievable. We tried our best to bring him in and what an absolute beautiful innings to watch. The last 8 overs even when we bowled dew was a huge factor. Going forward we need to plan how to counter that.”