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During the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2026 match no.13, between Jaffna Kings and Kandy Royals, a great sportsman's spirit was shown by the Royals’ spinner Wanindu Hasaranga towards Avishka Fernando, who was run out at the non-striker's end after the ball struck him on his bat. Despite running the batter out, Hasaranga called his Sri Lanka teammate, showcasing a heartwarming gesture.
As the striker Kamil Mishara tried to play a shot straight down towards the mid-off region of the leg-spinner, unfortunately the ball struck Avishka’s bat and went straight to Wanindu Hasaranga, who first ran him out but later on showed empathy and called the opening batter back to the crease.
Watch: Wanindu Hasaranga showcases sportsmanship
The incident occurred in the 6.3 overs of the game, as Wanindu Hasaranga bowled a leg-spinner outside the off stump and it was driven firmly straight back by Kamil Mishara. The ball ricocheted off Avishka Fernando's bat and rebounded to the non-striker's end.
Jaffna Kings' Avishka Fernando was run out at non-strikers end, after ball played by Kamil Mishara hit the bat of Fernando and deflected to Kandy Royals' Wanindu Hasaranga.
— The CricHub (@thecrichub_live) July 27, 2026
The umpire gave him out, but Hasaranga turns down the appeal, for Fernando to continue, who went on to…
Wanindu Hasaranga caught it and broke the stumps while the non-striker was out of the crease. However, in a rare display of sportsmanship, Wanindu Hasaranga soon withdrew the appeal and called the batter back, and the batter went on to score a half-century in the match.
Jaffna Kings dominate Kandy Royals
Coming to the match, Jaffna Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. The two openers, Kamil Mishara and Avishka Fernando, after the run out call back struck the Kandy bowlers all over the park as they stitched a 129-run partnership between them for the first wicket, and Fernando, who was called back, was dismissed for the score of 66 runs off 36 deliveries.
Kamil Mishara went on to score 78 runs off 53 balls, smashing 6 fours and 4 sixes. Bangladesh batter Towhid Hridoy scored 35 off 21 balls as the Kings finished off with a score of 199/4 in their 20 overs. Bhanuka Rajapaksa, the skipper, could not make much of a contribution with the bat.
While chasing, the Royals' batting order crumbled as they kept on losing wickets, and they lost half of their side inside 75 runs, with only one batter scoring a half-century, Lahiru Udara, playing a knock of 54 runs, and no other batters could go past the score of 25 runs.
The second-highest run-getter for the Kandy Royals was Pakistani bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who scored 22 runs as they were bowled out for the score of 106 runs, and Jaffna had a thumping win over the Royals by 93 runs.
Jaffna Kings were involved in match-fixing
Jaffna Kings were recently involved in match-fixing incidents, as their co-owner, former India U-19 cricketer Manjot Kalra, was arrested, and the other owner was missing. They were handed a termination notice after the franchise's inability to meet its financial commitments under the franchise agreement, as mentioned.
Manjot Kalra, the co-owner of the Jaffna Kings, was arrested by Sri Lanka Police over an alleged match-fixing approach made to a player. The former India U-19 World Cup winner tried to influence the player to fix the matches and tried to pay INR 9.5 million (approximately US$28,700) to the player.
