That brings us to the end of another LPL encounter. Till the next time, this is myself (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) biding you a goodbye. Goodnight! Cheers! 

Niroshan Dickwella (Colombo Strikers captain): I am glad that I got some runs yesterday but doesn't matter as long as we are winning. It was the third game on this track and we wanted to bat. I knew the ball would turn and would remain slower throughout the game. Just accessing the conditions. When Shamsi was bowling in the first game the ball was turning. When we had Vandersay in the ranks, we knew he would turn the ball.

Wanindu Hasaranga (B Love Kandy captain): No actually, we would have bowled had we won the toss. You know, this is the 3rd game in this pitch. We don't know about the wickets. The ball was little gripping when we were batting and lost some crucial wickets. 

Babar Azam is the Player of the Match for his knock of 58 off 52 deliveries. Here is what he has to say: I just tried to build a partnership. The pitch was two-paced and the ball wasn't coming onto the bat. I just wanted to build partnership. I wanted to take it deep and wanted to step on after the 15th over. When I played two balls and saw some extra bounce, I knew what to expect from the pitch. The boys are playing really well. 

Colombo Strikers won by 27 runs

Babar Azam 59(52) | Matheesha Pathirana 3/24(4)
Angelo Mathews 25(22) | Isuru Udana 3/39(4)



It turned out to be an exceptional bowling effort from the Colombo Strikers as they comfortably defended their score of 157, winning by 27 runs on the back of some all-round effort from the bowlers. Naseem Shah's opening spell made a huge difference as he bowled with venom and asked a lot of questions to the top order. He got the wicket of Thanuka Dabare in the very first over and he kept going from strength to strength. 

Kamindu Mendis played some good shots and was building a good partnership with Dinesh Chandimal when Naseem got him with a back-of-a-length delivery very close to his body. Chandimal departed in the very first over for Matheesha Pathirana and it seemed, Colombo was all over Kandy. Angelo Mathews batted sensibly for a while before top edge a tossed-up delivery from Jeffrey Vandersay which brought about his downfall. 

Wickets kept falling at regular intervals and there was not a single batter who found it easy while executing his strokes. Hasaranga gave away his wicket cheaply while Sarfaraz Ahmed who is naturally a free-flowing batter didn't get any timing whatsoever. The pressure kept building and in the end, the mountain was too steep to climb and it turned out to be a convincing victory for the Colombo Strikers. 

19.6 Chamika Karunaratne to Mohammad Hasnain, That's a comfortable victory for Colombo. Back of a length delivery a shade outside off, Hasnain swipes across the line but gets beaten. 

19.5 Chamika Karunaratne to Sarfaraz Ahmed, on a length around the off-stump channel, Sarfaraz makes some space and punches it away past the backward point fielder for a single. 

19.4 Chamika Karunaratne to Sarfaraz Ahmed, a slower length delivery which keeps low. Sarfaraz gets down on one knee and goes for the slog. Gets hit on thee front leg but would have comfortably gone down leg. 

19.3 Chamika Karunaratne to Sarfaraz Ahmed, Sarfaraz makes some room, Chamika sees that and bangs it around the back of a length channel, bit of pace and beats Sarfaraz on the outside edge. 

19.2 Chamika Karunaratne to Sarfaraz Ahmed, FOUR! Neatly played by Sarfaraz. Again a slower back of a length delivery a shade outside off, Sarfaraz waits for it and opens the bat face to run it down between the backward point and the short third man fielder. 

19.1 Chamika Karunaratne to Sarfaraz Ahmed, a slower back of a length delivery outside off, Sarfaraz swings across the line and gets beaten all ends up. Was way too early into the shot. 

18.6 Matheesha Pathirana to Mohammad Hasnain, another swing and a miss. Slower delivery on a length which stuck on the surface, Hasnain again way too early into the attempted swipe across the line and gets beaten. 

18.5 Matheesha Pathirana to Mohammad Hasnain, a slower yorker on this occasion. Hasnain makes some space and was way too early into the shot. Didn't quite read that slower one. 

18.4 Matheesha Pathirana to Mohammad Hasnain, that was a slower good-length delivery well wide outside off, inside the tramline and that foxed Hasnain all ends up. 

18.3 Matheesha Pathirana to Sarfaraz Ahmed, short of a length delivery around the body of Sarfaraz, he rolls his wrists and keeps the pull down, towards the deep square leg region only for a single. 

18.2 Matheesha Pathirana to Mohammad Hasnain, a low full toss a shade outside off, Hasnain makes some room and skews it away towards the cover region for a single. 

18.1 Matheesha Pathirana to Sarfaraz Ahmed, on a length a shade outside off, Sarfaraz clears his front leg and bunts this towards the mid-off fielder for a single.