PALLEKELE: In a must-win game for Kandy Royals, Lahiru Udara who has been their batting star in the ongoing Lanka Premier League (LPL) came out with all guns blazing to score a maiden T20 century to see his team beat table-toppers Galle Gallants for the second time this season (by six wickets) and keep their hopes alive of reaching the Play-offs in the first of back-to-back matches played at the Pallekele Cricket Stadium yesterday.
No doubt the match was the Lahiru Udara show who began the run chase of hunting down a daunting target of 209 by smashing three fours in the very first over to make his intentions quite clear. From that point onwards he never looked back and seized on the dropped chance at 40 by Chamika Karunaratne at deep square leg to put the Galle Gallants bowling to the sword. The lapse proved immensely costly as Udara raced to his half-century off just 21 balls dominating the power play by scoring 68 out of 83 off his own bat.
The opening stand yielded 103 off 47 balls with Pawan Sandesh (23). At the halfway mark Kandy Royals were cruising at 124-1 with Udara dominating the bowling.
Right-arm leg-spinner Sachindu Colombage who got the initial breakthrough put a break temporarily on the run rate when following the dismissal of Wanindu Hasaranga, he struck twice in one over to send back Moeen Ali (7) and Dale Phillips for a duck.
The fall of these wickets in quick succession slowed down the run rate. But Udara who took the Player of the Match award built a crucial partnership of 48 off 30 balls with skipper Angelo Mathews (14) to put the chase back on track.
Udara eventually reached his maiden T20 century off 54 balls with back to back boundaries off Tharindu Rathnayake and receiving another reprieve from Karunaratne who put him down again at 101 at deep cover steered his team home with an unbeaten 132 off 63 balls (15 fours, 7 sixes) sealing victory in grand style with a flat six over long-on to reclaim the orange cap as the leading run-getter in the tournament with 354 runs surpassing Sam Harper who had briefly worn the cap before him.
In the process Udara made the highest individual score by a batsman in the LPL surpassing Pathum Nissanka’s innings of 119 for Jaffna Kings v Kandy Falcons in 2024. Galle Gallants were left to rue their poor bowling discipline and sloppy fielding that gave them no chance of defending their total.
Galle Gallants got off to a cautious start on a pitch offering variable bounce, reaching 42 in the powerplay, before Sam Harper upped the tempo by reaching his 50 off 28 balls in an opening stand of 81 off 58 balls with Nurul Hasan (33).
Harper’s innings came to an end on 72 off 38 balls (7 fours, 3 sixes) when he was trapped lbw attempting a reverse sweep to give Zahir Khan his second wicket. Charith Asalanka who looked in sublime touch from the outset raced to the fastest half-century of LPL 2026 off 24 balls capping it with a massive six over cover off Asitha Fernando.
Asalanka remained unbeaten on 70 off 32 balls (7 fours, 4 sixes), marking the highest score of his LPL career. Zahir Khan was the pick of the attack, taking two wickets whilst keeping things tight. Nuwan Thushara who picked up a single scalp became the highest wicket taker of this edition and received the purple cap.