LPL 2020: Match 5, DAM vs JAF – Thisara Perera's record knock, Jaffna’s comeback and more stats

Jaffna Stallions thumped the Dambulla Viiking by a huge 66 runs on Monday to register their second consecutive win of the tournament. Thisara Perera, the captain of Jaffna, smashed an unbeaten 97 from only 44 balls with help of eight fours and seven sixes. His innings helped the Stallions recover from 64/5 to finish strongly on 218/7. The Dambulla team could never sustain in the chase from the point of losing their first wicket in the 3rd over. They were bowled out for 162 after losing the last five wickets for 11 runs.

Here are all the statistical highlights from Jaffna Stallions’ 66-run victory during the DAM vs JAF game:

Thisara only behind Russell:

97* – Thisara Perera’s unbeaten 97 during DAM vs JAF is now the 2nd highest individual score in Twenty20 cricket for any player while batting at No.7 or a lower position. The highest is Andre Russell’s 121* for Jamaica Tallawahs at No.7 against TKR in the 2018 CPL.

No player other than Russell and Perera has scored as many as 90 runs in a T20 innings while batting at No.7 or a lower position. In fact, Ashen Bandara’s 101* at No.5 for Saracens SC against Tamil UCAC earlier this year is the only T20 score higher than Perera’s 97* in Sri Lanka while batting at No.5 or a lower position.

Perera’s all-round show:

2 – Thisara Perera picked two wickets along with his unbeaten 97 during DAM vs JAF; the 2nd most runs scored by a Sri Lankan in a T20 game alongside picking two or more wickets. It was Danushka Gunathilaka who scored an unbeaten 102 alongside his figures of 2/17 for Sinhalese SC in 2015 against Colombo SC.

97* – Thisara’s unbeaten 97 is also his highest score in the T20 format surpassing the 84-run knock for Sinhalese SC which he scored in only 30 balls while batting at No.6 against Sri Lanka Navy SC earlier in 2018. Perera’s 97* is also the highest individual T20 score in Hambantota surpassing Avishka Fernando’s 92* also for Jaffna Stallions on Friday.

A tough game with the ball for Lahiru:

63 – Lahiru Kumara became the first player to concede 60+ runs in a T20 match hosted by Sri Lanka. The previous most runs conceded in any T20 game on Sri Lankan soil was 59 runs by Usman Ishak in only three overs while playing for Colombo CC against Colts CC in the 2016 Domestic T20 competition.

A hat-trick as captain for Perera:

3 – Thisara Perera has scored 50+ runs in each of his last three innings in the Twenty20 format as captain. He scored 58 and 57 respectively against Bangladesh and England in 2018 while leading Sri Lanka. Thisara lost each of the ten T20 matches he played as a captain before the LPL.

Bottom half rescues Jaffna:

181 – A total of 181 runs have been scored by No.5 and lower position of Jaffna Stallions during the afternoon game. These are the 2nd most runs aggregated by the batsmen outside top four in a T20 inning behind Delhi’s 187 runs against Andhra in the 2016 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Jaffna Stallions’ bottom six batsmen aggregated 158 runs while the bottom five collectively scored 129 runs; both of them are the 2nd most in a team’s innings in the Twenty20 format.

Dickwella joins a rare list:

2 – Niroshan Dickwella claimed four catches during the DAM vs JAF; the 2nd instance of him claiming as many as four catches as a wicketkeeper in a T20. He is the 2nd Sri Lankan after Kumar Sangakkara (2) to take four or more catches as a keeper in a T20 match more than once.