Udara’s maiden T20 hundred sinks the LPL leaders as Kandy chase 209

Galle Gallants made 208 for 3 at Pallekele on Wednesday and lost by six wickets with seven balls to spare. That is not a bad night in the field or a collapse with the ball. That is one batter having the innings of his life.

Lahiru Udara finished unbeaten on 132 from 63 deliveries, with 15 fours and seven sixes, and took Kandy Royals to 214 for 4 in 18.5 overs. He had never scored a hundred in T20 cricket before Wednesday.

Fifty off 21 balls, hundred off 54

The powerplay settled it. Kandy were 83 without loss after six overs and 68 of those runs were Udara’s, three of his boundaries coming in the opening over. He got to his fifty in 21 balls, having already hit seven fours and three sixes, and by then the required rate had stopped being a factor in anyone’s calculations.

Galle had one chance to stop it. Chamika Karunaratne put Udara down at deep square leg when he was on 40, which is the sort of miss that gets replayed for a week when the man who survives it goes on to make 132.

His hundred came up off 54 balls, and the shape of the innings changed after it. The first hundred runs contained 14 fours and three sixes. The last 32 came almost entirely through the air, four more sixes among them, the final one a flat hit over long-on that ended the game.

Galle did find a way through the middle of the order. Sachindu Colombage took 3 for 18 from his four overs, removing Pawan Sandesh, Moeen Ali and Dale Phillips, and Kandy slid from 103 without loss to 137 for 4 inside 13 overs. Wanindu Hasaranga had gone by then too, caught off Eshan Malinga for 16. None of it mattered, because Udara was still there and Akif Javed’s 3.5 overs cost 66.

Angelo Mathews retired hurt on 14 with the score at 185 for 4, which brought in Vijay Shankar, Kandy’s impact substitute for the night. Shankar faced three balls, made 7 not out, and watched the rest from 22 yards away.

Harper and Asalanka had done their part

Galle’s innings looked like a winning one at the interval. Sam Harper hit 72 off 38 with three sixes, reaching fifty in 28 balls, and his opening stand with Nurul Hasan was worth 81. Charith Asalanka then came in and made 70 not out off 32, a fifty in 24 balls, with seven fours and four sixes.

Zahir Khan was the only Kandy bowler who came out of the innings with credit, 2 for 25 from four overs. Shaheen Shah Afridi went for 47, Hasaranga for 47 and Asitha Fernando for 46.

Galle keep losing to the team below them

This is the second time in four days that Kandy have beaten the league leaders. They defended 165 to win by 11 runs at Dambulla on 25 July, and Galle have now lost three of their seven matches while still sitting top of the table on eight points and a net run rate of 0.598.

Jaffna Kings are level on eight points from a game fewer. Colombo have six from six, Kandy six from seven, and Dambulla Sixers four from six. Kandy’s net run rate of minus 0.499 is the thing holding them back, and a chase completed with seven balls in hand does more for that number than a narrow win ever will.

Udara took the player-of-the-match award. Three days earlier, in a 93-run defeat to Jaffna, he had top-scored with 54 in a total of 106.

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