He then locked sights on his international teammate Theekshana, looting 20 off an over with two towering sixes and a four as Wanindu Hasaranga watched the mayhem unfold from the non-striker’s end.
The headline moment arrived when Shanaka reached three figures off just 39 balls, eclipsing the previous CPL record of 40 balls jointly held by Tim Seifert and Shimron Hetmyer, set just a week prior.
Shanaka reserved his most destructive hitting for the death. The final four overs yielded a staggering 79 runs, capped by a 28-run rampage in the 20th over off Gaston that featured four sixes and a boundary.
Together, Shanaka and Hasaranga stitched an unbroken 93-run partnership off a mere 31 deliveries. Shanaka finished unbeaten on 121 from 43 balls, boasting eight fours and 12 sixes, as the Patriots plundered 93 runs off the final five overs to post 235 for 4—the highest total of CPL 2026.
Faced with an improbable mountain to climb, the Kings’ chase unravelled almost immediately, their spirits visibly battered by the first-innings leather-hunting. Kamil Pooran fell for a duck in the opening over, and when Hasaranga flattened the stumps twice, the Kings ended their Powerplay reeling at 46 for 3, which quickly slumped to 55 for 4.
While Tim Seifert waged a solitary battle at one end with a 36-ball 50, the rest of the Kings’ batting unit offered meek resistance. Jeremiah Louis transformed a commanding Patriots display into an outright rout.
Louis ripped through the middle and lower order, taking Chase and Forde off back-to-back deliveries to leave the chase dead on arrival.
Operating with lethal precision, Louis claimed five of the final six wickets to finish with sensational figures of 5 for 10 from 2.5 overs—his maiden five-wicket haul in just his tenth T20 appearance.
Outside of Seifert, no other Kings batter reached double figures, and the innings folded meekly for 98 in 13.5 overs.
The Kings will look to piece themselves back together when they face the Barbados Tridents on Sunday. The Patriots, meanwhile, head to Providence full of momentum for a high-stakes clash against the Guyana Amazon Warriors.