Shankar, who made 25 runs, was dismissed by Madushanka on the final ball of the game.
Kandy Royals captain Wanindu Hasaranga won the toss and chose to bowl first in Pallekele. Jaffna responded with a huge total of 221/6 in 20 overs thanks to Kamil Mishara (49), Chamindu Wickramasinghe (43), and Avishka Fernando (36).
In response, not a single Kandy batter got a big score apart from Pawan Sandesh, who made 48, and Lahiru Igalagamage, who made 30. There were cameos from Shaheen Afridi (24), Hasaranga (24) and Vijay Shankar (25), but Royals could only manage 200 runs and lost the game by 21 runs.
However, the main culprit of the loss was Vijay Shankar, who faced Dilshan Madushanka in the final over, when Kandy required 22 runs from 6 balls to win the game. Shankar was on 25 runs in 15 balls before the final over, having hit Madushanka for two consecutive fours in the 16th over.
Madushanka replied with a rare maiden-wicket over, conceding no runs and dismissing Shankar on the final ball.
The first ball was a short one outside off; Shankar attempted a pull but was caught by the deep mid-wicket fielder. He decided not to take a single. Shankar missed the second one, which was an off-cutter. The bowler followed up with a yorker on off stump. Shankar could only chip it to Long-on. Again, he did not take a single.
After three consecutive wickets, Madushanka needed to bowl only three legal deliveries as the Royals still needed 22 runs. He produced another off-cutter, and Shankar missed the flip shot when the ball struck him on the pad. Shankar was still concerned about the change in tempo.
Shankar attempted to hit the ball across the line after the penultimate delivery was an off-cutter, but he missed it. Madushanka bowled a short delivery for the last one. Shankar attempted a shot, but it was caught at deep backward square leg, ending his innings.