Dambulla Viiking (abbreviated as DV) is a franchise cricket team which competed in the inaugural season of Lanka Premier League (LPL). For the 2020 season, the team was captained by Dasun Shanaka and coached by Owais Shah. Based in Dambulla, Central Province, Sri Lanka, the team is owned by Bollywood film actor and producer Sachiin J. Joshi. In the inaugural season, it changed its name from Dambulla Hawks to Dambulla Lions, and ten days later again changed its name to Dambulla Viiking.
The team qualified for the semi-finals of this inaugural season of LPL after winning five out of eight matches, but lost to Jaffna Stallions in the semi-finals.
Season summary In the Dambulla Viiking's first-ever LPL game, against the Kandy Tuskers, they scored 195/4 of their 20 overs. The game was shortened by rain, with the Viiking winning by four runs according to DLS. In their second match, they played against the Jaffna Stallions, who scored 218/7 thanks to Stallions captain Thisara Perera, who scored an unbeaten 97 runs. The Viikings could not chase the total down, losing by 66 runs.
In their third match, they played against the Colombo Kings. The Kings' batting fluctuated, as they were bowled out for 149 runs in response to the Viiking's 175 runs. This brought the Kings' unbeaten run to an end. In Game 4 they competed against the Kandy Tuskers. The Tuskers made 156 runs with a loss of 6 wickets. In response to the Viiking's 157/7, winning the game by 5 wickets.
The Viiking's Game 5, against the Galle Gladiators, was a much closer affair. Niroshan Dickwella hit 60 runs. In response, Gladiators' batsman Danushka Gunathilaka hit his third fifty in a row and he was well supported by wicket-keeper batsman Azam Khan, who also hit a fifty. However, the Viiking won this time by 9 runs. Game 6 was a washout, with the Viiking at 42/3 before the rain hit.
In Game 7 against Galle, the Viiking's chances looked slim before Samiullah Shinwari's 46 runs off 20 balls helped the Viikings chase down the target of 168 runs. In the last game of the group stage against the Colombo Kings, Kings player Qais Ahmed performed with both bat and ball. He first took two wickets by giving 23 runs from his 4 overs before hitting 50 runs off 22 balls, and defeated Viiking with a 6 wickets loss. This meant that the Dambulla Viiking finished 2nd on the table.
Viiking played against the Stallions in the second semi-finals, but lost the match by a margin of 37 runs.
Squad Players with international caps are listed in bold. Ages given as of 26 November 2020, the date that the first match was played in the tournament No. Name Nationality Date of birth (age) Batting style Bowling style Notes Batsmen 80 Oshada Fernando Right-handed Right-arm leg-break 44 Upul Tharanga Left-handed — 23 Angelo Perera Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 10 David Miller Right-handed Right-arm offbreak Marquee overseas player 54 Lendl Simmons Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Overseas 92 Sohaib Maqsood Right-handed Right-arm legbreak Overseas 88 Pulina Tharanga Right-handed Right-arm leg-break 15 Ashen Bandara Right-handed Right-arm legbreak N/A Kavindu Nadeeshan Right-handed Legbreak All-rounders 7 Dasun Shanaka Right-handed Right-arm medium Captain, Icon player 45 Lahiru Madushanka Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 26 Carlos Brathwaite Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Overseas 22 Samit Patel Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox Overseas N/A Paul Stirling Right-handed Right-arm offbreak Overseas N/A Aftab Alam Right-handed Right-arm fast Overseas 84 Anwar Ali Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Overseas 45 Samiullah Shinwari Right-handed Right-arm leg spin Overseas 5 Ramesh Mendis Right-handed Right-arm offbreak Wicket-keepers 48 Niroshan Dickwella Left-handed — 23 Sadeera Samarawickrama Right-handed — 23 Kamran Akmal Right-handed Right-arm medium Overseas Bowlers 8 Lahiru Kumara Left-handed Right-arm fast 65 Kasun Rajitha Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 3 Malinda Pushpakumara Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 32 Sudeep Tyagi Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Overseas N/A Dilshan Madushanka Right-handed Left-arm fast-medium 52 Sachindu Colombage Right-handed Right-arm legbreak Sources
Administration and support staff Bollywood actor and producer Sachiin J. Joshi owns the Dambulla Viiking team. For the season, former English cricketer Owais Shah was appointed as the head coach of team.
Season standings League table
Matches + denotes the winner team. denotes the loser team. denotes no result. Date Opponent Toss Result Notes 28 November Kandy Tuskers Kandy Tuskers elected to field. Dambulla Viiking won by 4 runs. Dasun Shanaka 30 November Jaffna Stallions Dambulla Viiking elected to field. Jaffna Stallions won by 66 runs. Thisara Perera 1 December Colombo Kings Dambulla Viiking elected to bat. Dambulla Viiking won by 28 runs. Dasun Shanaka 3 December Kandy Tuskers Kandy Tuskers elected to bat. Dambulla Viiking won by 5 wickets. Angelo Perera 5 December Galle Gladiators Dambulla Viiking elected to bat. Dambulla Viiking won by 9 runs. Anwar Ali 7 December Jaffna Stallions Jaffna Stallions elected to field. Cancelled due to rain. 9 December Galle Gladiators Galle Gladiators elected to field. Dambulla Viiking won by 4 wickets. Samiullah Shinwari 11 December Colombo Kings Colombo Kings elected to field. Colombo Kings won by 6 wickets. Qais Ahmad 14 December Jaffna Stallions Dambulla Viiking elected to field. Jaffna Stallions won by 37 runs. Johnson Charles Lost the semi-final.
Statistics Most runs The top scorer of Dambulla Viiking was Dasun Shanaka, who scored 278 runs in nine matches. The second position was attained by Niroshan Dickwella, who scored 270 runs. The third and fourth positions were attained by Angelo Perera and Upul Tharanga, respectively, and the fifth position was held by English cricketer Samit Patel. + * indicates a player who remained not out. Name Matches Runs Highest scoreDasun Shanaka 9 278 73Niroshan Dickwella 9 270 65 Angelo Perera 7 227 74*Upul Tharanga 8 196 77Samit Patel 9 189 58
Most wickets Anwar Ali, a Pakistani cricketer who took nine wickets in eight matches, was followed by Malinda Pushpakumara, who took eight wickets. Ramesh Mendis and Kasun Rajitha both took six wickets. + Notation 3/37 denotes 3 wickets obtained by 37 runs. Name Matches Wickets Best bowlingAnwar Ali 8 9 3/37Malinda Pushpakumara 8 8 2/19 Samit Patel 9 7 2/26 Ramesh Mendis 7 6 2/28 Kasun Rajitha 6 6 2/16
Awards and achievements Dambulla Viiking won five matches, so five man of the match awards were given to the team's players. The first award was presented to Dasun Shanaka for scoring 73 runs off 37 balls, and he also won the second award. The third award was presented to Angelo Perera for scoring 67 runs off 49 balls. The fourth award was bestowed to Pakistani cricketer Anwar Ali for picking up three wickets, and the last award was awarded to Afghan cricketer Samiullah Shinwari. Date Award Player Opponent Result Contribution Ref. 28 NovemberMan of the MatchDasun Shanaka Kandy Tuskers Won by 4 runs (DLS method). 73 1 December Colombo Kings Won by 28 runs. 56 3 December Angelo Perera Kandy Tuskers Won by 5 wickets. 67 5 December Anwar AliGalle Gladiators Won by 9 runs. 3 9 December Samiullah Shinwari Won by 4 wickets. 46*
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