Twitter Reactions: Brendan Taylor propels Kandy Tuskers to an easy win with a classy half-century

After the heroics of Perera in the first game of the day, it was then time for the second match of the day. It was a game between two teams who were yet to open their account. They had lost both the matches they had played till now. It was an encounter between the Kandy Tuskers and the Galle Gladiators.

Galle won the toss and elected to bowl first. They were looking to make some early inroads and restrict the Tuskers side to a score as low as possible. However, this did not happen. They were able to take only one wicket in the powerplay as the Kusal Perera-led side scored 67 runs.

The Gladiators’ bowlers struggled to get wickets consistently and as a result all batsmen at least got starts. The two main scorers though were Kusal Mendis and Brendan Taylor. The former made 49 runs in 30 balls while the latter scored 51* in 35. They helped their team reach 196 runs at the end of their 20 overs.

Danushka Gunathilaka’s efforts go in vain as the Gladiators lose by 25 runs

Chasing 197, the start was always going to be very crucial. While Gunathilaka stood firm from one end, he got absolutely no support from his fellow batsmen. As a result, the second-highest score by any batsman was only 17 runs. The opener played a brilliant inning of 82 runs in just 53 balls.

His inning included 13 boundaries and one six. His inning came to an end due to a terrific direct hit from Gunaratne. He played for as long as the 18th over but as often say, cricket is a team sport and you need everyone to contribute. The failure of the entire batting line-up apart from him meant that his team could reach only 171 as they fell short by 25 runs.

Coming to the Tuskers bowling, apart from Munaf Patel who gave away 35 runs in his three overs, the other bowlers did really well to control the flow of runs and also get a wicket here and there. The Gladiators have now lost three matches on the trot and need a quick turnaround in order to make it to the semi-finals. Their team definitely has the potential to do really well and the captain and management would be hoping that everything can come together before it’s too late.

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