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After 20 days of intense cricketing action, it's the B-Love Kandy who has been crowned the new LPL champions. The celebrations will go on late in the night. Dambulla Aura finished at the top of the points table and also won the first qualifier but just when it mattered the most, Kandy produced some thrilling cricket and won three back to back games to lift the trophy. Cricketing action continues as we are in for a massive day tomorrow with several T20 and T10 matches lined up right from 4:30 AM but for now this is myself (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) signing off also on behalf of my fellow commentators and good mates Pragadeesh and Sooryanarayan Sesha. Goodnight! Cheers!
Wanindu Hasaranga now walks up to collect the Lanka Premier League 2023 trophy. A new winner is officially engraved against it and it's B-Love Kandy who reign supreme. The rest of the team joins their inspirational skipper and bask in the glory of it. These celebrations will certainly go long and hard into the night as they should! What a performance and what a moment for them. They will savor this for a long, long time indeed.
And here's what Wanindu Hasaranga, the tournament-winning skipper of B-Love Kandy has to say: We should thank the support staff and the players who came. The foreign players did a really good, I should thank them first. After the first two losses we bounced back well. We won three out of three in Kandy and then played sensible cricket here. We started playing good cricket in Kandy. Our batters took responsibility and the bowlers did well.
Now, it's time for the B-Love Kandy players to receive their medals. So many setbacks including losing their talisman and skipper for the final. But like a true champion team, they've put it all behind them to rise to the occasion. Deserving winners? Oh you bet they are!
Kusal Mendis (Dambula Aura captain as translated by Roshan Abeysinghe): He was not happy with the score they put up after batting first. He felt that Dambulla should have gotten around 169. He also felt that despite the defeat, he can't blame his bowlers. He also thanked the crowd and hope they will support Sri Lanka in the upcoming Asia Cup as well.
The players from the Dambulla Aura team come up to collect their medals. So close, yet so far for Kusal Mendis and Co. But they've had a great campaign and should be proud of how they've fought. If they keep this unit intact and continue to get most things right, you'd think that glory isn't far away in the seasons to come!
Lasith Croospulle of Galle Titans walks away as the Emerging Player of the Tournament!
Wanindu Hasaranga now collects a host of awards - for topping the run-scorers' charts, the wicket-takers' charts and scoring the most sixes. One man ruled this tournament didn't he?
Time for the Player of the Tournament...surprise surprise - it's Wanindu Hasaranga. Who else but him! And here's what he has to say as he collects the award: I'm very happy because I contributed with the bat. I tried to do my best whether I was batting or bowling. It came from our head coach Mushtaq Ahmed - he asked me to bat at the top of the order. I said I'm ready to do that. At that time I also wanted to do something with the bat. I tried to do my basic thing. (Batting, bowling and captaincy - does that add pressure?) Of course not like that because when I play for my team I try to do my best whether I'm captaining or not. I was the Player of the Tournament in the first edition of the LPL but this was special since I contributed with the bat too.
B-Love Kandy's stand-in skipper Angelo Mathews is the Player of the Match for his all-round contribution! Here's what he has to say: Body's feeling very good. The schedule was very demanding but we had to rise to the occasion. Unfortunate that we missed out so many players and it was a bad day for Wanindu as well because he single-handedly brought us to the final and we had to do it for him today. Not that I didn't want to (bowl) but I tried to give 100 per cent with whatever I can. Wanindu asked me if I could bowl a few overs and I happily said yes. I trained for it and had the workload under my belt. It was a pleasing performance that I could contribute in all three departments. Credit should go to Dambulla as well, they had a fantastic series right throughout. It happened to be our game today. I thought it was a good toss to lose because I was going to bat first as well. But I thought the bowlers did brilliantly - to keep their strong batting lineup to 147 was a special effort. Every single game (was special). Mushtaq Ahmed our coach and our bowling coach also created a great environment. Just want to thank the fans - we played in Kandy but the finals were in Colombo. But it was so pleasing to see Kandy supporters in large numbers so thank you very much guys!
Time for the tournament presentation! First up, the match officials are presented with their mementos.
Wasim Akram: Great to see. This team is a warrior team. After all the injuries the way the guys chipped in was great. The way this team came back was quite exceptional. Eliminator, qualifier and final to win three back to back games deserve special mention. I told in team meetings that whoever gets a chance express yourself and enjoy the game. I just can't explain that feeling. My mouth gets dry, heat beat gets fast You cant get used to pressure. I knew that the total to which they were restricted, I felt we should chase this down. Clinical performance. Credi goes to the skipper Wanindu. B Love Kandy played 3 games in 3 days that's why so many injuries. Pramod played with an injury. These guys are definitely warriors for me. Not really actually. What helped us was the local staff. The bowling coach, the batting coach, the manager. The success of any team depends on the local players. I forgot to mention Mushi. He led the troop brilliantly. It took an hour for me to reach the stadium which shows that every one wanted to watch this game. Absolutely this is just the start. LPL is on the rise. People have picked their side.
Dinesh Chandimal: It was a great game of cricket. Credit goes to captain and coach, especially after losing the first two games. Captain and coach was very calm. We have enough experience in the team and that's why we won the tournament as far as I feel. It wasn't a bad wicket. To be honest after the first half we thought of playing first 8 overs as ODI cricket. Haris and Kamindu batted brilliantly before Asif and Mathews finished it off. I am really happy. Met Wanindu's parents after I was bought and told them that we will win the tournament for your son.
Angelo Mathews: I have experienced this over the past 15 years. I thought that the latter batters Asif Ali and Madushanka was brilliant towards the end. God has been kind to us, especially with so much injuries. Credit goes to Mushtaq Ahmed and the captain. They created an environment after losing a couple of games and we felt that they were backing us. I thought that the bowlers were outstanding. It wasn't a 147 wicket. The odd one kept low but overall it was a good wicket. The last 3 games it was back to back for us. It was physically draining and happy with the win.
B-Love Kandy won by 5 wickets (with one delivery to spare)
Kamindu Mendis 44(37) | Chaturanga de Silva 2/25(4) Dhananjaya de Silva 40(29) | Noor Ahmad 3/27(4)
What a moment for B-Love Kandy. For the first time in Lanka Premier League, a team apart from Jaffna Kings have won the tournament. Several players injured but they still came out with intent and made sure to utilise whatever was available for them. Angelo Mathews lifted the side in the absence of Hasaranga. What a match and what a way for Kandy to become the new LPL champions.
A historic victory for B-Love Kandy as they become the new champions of the Lanka Premier League. The run chase was a tricky one given the two-paced nature of the pitch but the start provided by Mohammad Haris and Kamindu Mendis set them well on their way to victory. Both came out with intent and depsite not taking too many risks, they found the boundaries quite consistently and ended up sharing an important stand of 49 runs.
Haris was deceived by a quicker flatter trajectory leg break which breached the defence of Haris and rattled the stumps. Dinesh Chandimal and Kamindu Mendis then batted sensibly and found the occasional boundaries and didn't allow the required rate to creep up too rapidly. Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal departed in a quick span as Binura and Noor brought about their downfalls.
With a couple of quick wickets, the pressure kept building for Kandy but the experienced campaigner Angelo Mathews was still out there and took it upon himself to take his side home. Asif Ali turned the game with a couple of blistering strokes. His 10-ball 19 gave them the momentum towards the death overs. In the end, Mathews held his nerves and took the side over the finish line with Lahiru Madushanka in company.
19.5 Pramod Madushan to Lahiru Madushanka, FOUR! That's it, B-Love Kandy ar the LPL Champions. A quickish short of a length delivery from Madushan, Madushanka was hurried there but still manages to get some bat on that, a top edge which flies over the keeper's head and off to the fence.
1 needed off 2 balls.
19.4 Pramod Madushan to Angelo Mathews, just one more to win for B-Love Kandy. Short of a length delivery from Madushan and Mathews helps it away around the corner, a top edge down towards the deep square leg region and has to be content with a single.
19.3 Pramod Madushan to Angelo Mathews, brilliantly bowled by Madushan but Mathews still manages to squeeze away that yorker-length delivery around middle towards the deep square leg region, using every bit of his inch to come back for a couple.
19.2 Pramod Madushan to Lahiru Madushanka, that was a full toss angling down leg, Madushanka missed out on this occasion, there was a four for the taking, ends up getting a leg bye single as it trickles off his thigh pads towards short fine.
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R.Premadasa Stadium, Khettarama, Colombo
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