Mohammad Nawaz scored a quickfire nine-ball 21 to help the Galle Gallants past the 200-run mark in the Lanka Premier League 2026 opener against the Jaffna Kings.
Mohammad Nawaz shines in LPL 2026 opener
Nawaz, who walked in to bat at No.7 in the 18th over, with the score reading 165-5, scored a brisk 21 to carry the Galle Gallants to 213-6.
Nawaz started with two dots and two singles before taking down Piyush Chawla in the last over of the first innings. The first ball was dispatched for a six over deep mid-wicket, and then he proceeded to hit two more in the next four balls, to take his team well over the 200-run mark.
Chawla, who has been a part of India's winning campaigns in the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup, went for 43 runs off his four overs. Eventually, Chawla dismissed Nawaz on the last delivery of the innings.
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Gallants skipper Dasun Shanaka also scored a brisk nine-ball 31, with the help of three sixes and two fours. In reply, the Jaffna Kings were kept down to 177, with Eshan Malinga scalping four wickets for a mere 26.
Earlier in the day, Nawaz had been in the news after the ICC handed him a three-month ban for testing positive for Carboxy-THC, a cannabis metabolite. However, the ban was backdated to May 1, 2026, and reduced to one month after he agreed to complete a drug treatment programme.
As a result, all of Nawaz's match results between February 7 and May 1, 2026, were disqualified and removed from his official record, meaning all his performances in the 2026 T20 World Cup are no longer counted towards his career statistics.
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