KDW vs DHG 18th Match Prediction

KDW vs DHG Team Previews

Kandy Warriors

It seems that a change in the name of the team has also changed the fortunes of the Kandy franchise. After finishing both the previous seasons at the bottom of the points table, Kandy has come back strongly and is sitting at the top of the table this time around.

The Falcons come into this contest on the back of 4 consecutive victories and will be fancying their chances of ending the league stage on a high. They faced the Colombo Stars in their last match where bowling first, they bowled out the opposition for just 106 runs. Chamika Karunaratne bowled an excellent spell of 4-11 and was well supported by Oshane Thomas, who was playing his first match of the season, and Isuru Udana.

Chasing a modest target, the Falcons lost Minod Bhanuka with just 7 runs on the board. However, Andre Fletcher and Kamindu Mendis put up an unbeaten partnership of 101 to see the team through with the latter scoring his second half-century of the season.

Fletcher is the top-scorer for his team as well as in the tournament, having scored 264 runs so far. In addition to these two, Ashen Bandara and Pathum Nissanka too are in good form. Carlos Brathwaite is the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 15 wickets and has received good support from captain Wanindu Hasaranga and Fabian Allen, both of whom have scalped 8 wickets each. 

Dambulla Giants

Dambulla Aura has endured a disastrous start to this season, losing each of its 5 opening matches. However, they seem to have turned a new leaf in the last match, defeating the Galle Gladiators by 48 runs. Dambulla Aura must now win both its remaining matches if they want to keep its chances of moving into the next stage alive.

After a string of mediocre batting performances, the opening pair of Dambulla Aura, Shevon Daniels and Jordan Cox, finally broke into some good form in the last game and put up 163 runs for the opening wicket. This was the highest partnership for any wicket this season. However, the other batsmen haven’t been up to the task, and this has been one of the biggest causes of Dambulla’s disastrous performance.

Players like Dasun Shanaka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa have failed to get big scores. Much was expected of Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza but he too has failed to perform with the bat as well as the ball. The bowling however has been a tad better with Pramod Madushan and Lahiru Kumara both picking up 6 wickets each. Much will depend on the performance of bowlers if Dambulla wants to win this one.