Let the games begin
Last year's stand-in skipper Bhanuka Rajapaksa will lead Galle
The second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) kicks off today at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo, but what conspired right around Sri Lanka’s premium and cash-rich cricket tournament has not been too pleasant. Alongside the successes it has had and the impact LPL has brought to put Sri Lanka on the ball with the other cricket leagues around the world, but at the same time being a competition that is merely one year-old, it had created many controversies.
The LPL was inaugurated last year during the same period with five teams in fray for the title, namely Colombo Kings, Dambulla Viikings, Kandy Tuskers, Galle Gladiators and current title holders Jaffna Stallions. But as the second edition approaches, the LPL will go ahead with many changes to its participating franchises.
With the exception of Galle Gladiators, last year’s losing finalists, other four franchises have changes their names with new owners taking ownership. Colombo Kings has been renamed as Stars while Dambulla has become Giants instead of Viikings. Kandy Tuskers are now Warriors and the Jaffna franchise has changed its name to Kings from Stallions. The only franchise to move forward its legacy is Galle Gladiators, who remain unchanged with its original name and ownership.
Where the teams are concerned Colombo Stars, who topped the group last season but lost the first semifinal to Galle Gladiators, will have six of their senior players retained for the second edition. Among them are skipper Angelo Mathews, Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal, Ashan Priyanjan, Thikshila de Silva and Himesh Ramanayake. However Mathews’ services will be doubtful for this season as he is currently nursing a hamstring injury and in need of rest for at least two weeks. His availability will be subjected to a MRI scan and the progress of treatments, but even if Mathews is determined to turn out for his side, he may have to miss out a bulk of matches in the league stage.
Colombo Stars have bought in former Kandy Warriors players Seekkuge Prasanna, Kusal Perera and Naveen-ul-Haq, former Galle Gladiator spinners Lakshan Sandakan and Akila Dananjaya and former Jaffna Kings allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva.
Angelo Perera will lead the Kandy outfit
Among the new recruits are Pathum Nissanka, who stood out in the ICC T20 World Cup, Jeffrey Vandersay and allrounder David Wiese, who turned out for South Africa and Namibia as an allrounder. Universal Boss Chris Gayle was in the initial list, but he will skip the LPL for the second time running. The side has omitted 14 players from the last season’s pool and only three of them have been bought by other franchises.
Dasun Shanaka will continue his role as skipper of Dambulla Giants with Niroshan Dickwella and Ramesh Mendis being retained by the new management. They have raked in Tharindu Ratnayake, Lahiru Udara and Kalana Perera from Colombo and Nuwan Pradeep and Chamikara Edisirisinghe from Kandy.
New names include Chamika Karunaratne, Imran Tahir, Sohaib Maqsood, Najibullah Zadran, Josh Little, Marchant de Lange and Dilshan Munaweera. Last year’s players Samit Patel, Upul Tharanga, Angelo Perera, Sachindu Colombage and Ashen Bandara have been bought by other franchises while Oshada Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Paul Stirling, Malinda Pushpakumara, Samiullah Shinwari and Sadeera Samarawickrama have not been retained or bought in by other teams.
Last season Dambulla Viikings finished second in the points table next to Colombo Kings, and lost to eventual winners Jaffna Stallions in the second semi-final.
Sri Lanka’s new batting sensation in the shorter version of the game, Bhanuka Rajapaksa has been assigned to lead Galle Gladiators this season, who have also retained Mohammad Amit, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dananjaya Lakshan and Nuwan Thushara.
Thisara Perera leads Jaffna Kings
Five former Dambulla players, Samit Patel, Anwar Ali, Lahiru Madushanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dilshan Madushanka will join the Galle franchise this season, alongside former Kandy players Kusal Mendis and Kevin Koththigoda and former Colombo player Isuru Udana.
Mohammad Hafeez, Tabraiz Shamsi and Pulina Tharanga are among the new seven joining for this season. Former players Akila Dananjaya, Milinda Siriwardana and Lakshan Sandakan have been bought over by other franchises. Shahid Afridi, Hazmatullah Zazai, Azam Khan, Shehan Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Chadwick Walton, Ahsan Ali, Waqas Maqsood and Abdul Nasir will not turn out for the Galle team this season.
Jaffna Kings will be led once again by Thisara Perera, as the franchise has retained most of their players from last season. Among them are skipper Perera, star allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga, Shoaib Malik, Usman Shinwari, Avishka Fernando, Maheesh Theekshana, Chaturanga de Silva, Suranga Lakmal, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth and Theivendiram Dinoshan.
Upul Tharanga and Ashen Bandara will cross over from Dambulla to Jaffna this season alongside Rahmanullah Gurbaz who turned out for Kandy last year.
Faf du Plessis, Wahab Riaz, Jayden Seales, Chamika Gunasekara, Ashan Randika, Rathnaraja Thanuradan, Krishan Arachchige, Praveen Jayawickrama and Shammu Ashan are the new faces joining for defending champions.
Dhananjaya de Silva, Binura Fernando, Minod Bhanuka and Charith Asalanka have been bought over by other franchises this season while Nuwanidu Fernando, Kanagarathinam Kabilraj, Kyle Abbott, Duanne Oliver, Tom Moores, Prabath Jayasuriya, Johnson Charles and Sebastianpillai Vijeyaraj have lost their places in the side.
Sri Lanka T20 skipper Dasun Shanaka is in charge of Dmbulla
Kandy Warriors will be led by Angelo Perera, who is currently in prime form in the ongoing Abu Dhabi T10. Kandy has only retained Asela Gunaratne, Ishan Jayaratne and Kamindu Mendis from last season, while skipper Perera, Lahiru Kumara and Sachindu Colombage joins the side from Dambulla. The side also has bought over star batsman Charith Asalanka, Binura Fernando and Minod Bhanuka who turned out for Jaffna last year, with Milinda Siriwardana, who was part of the Galle outfit.
Among the new recruits are Rovman Powell, Cameron Delport, Kamil Mishara, Ayana Siriwardhana, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Irfan, Al-Amin Hossain and Phil Salt. Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Nuwan Pradeep, Sekkuge Prasanna, Naveen-ul-Haq, Chamikara Edirisinghe and Kevin Koththigoda have been taken by other franchises.
Among those gone missing from last season from Kandy are Dilruwan Perera, Priyamal Perera, Lasith Embuldeniya, Irfan Pathan, Rahmatullah Gurbaz, Munaf Patel, Brendon Taylor, Dale Steyn and Vishwa Fernando.
Since end of the initial edition in 2020, LPL became a newsmaker for reasons other than cricket. It continues even towards the final few days to the second edition. Still the subjects are beyond of cricket. The biggest reservation of the LPL has become the integrity of the tournament, which has been marred by issues other than the sport itself.
But those matters that are of administrative and management levels will be out of contention for at least 20 days when the LPL actually come into action from today. Action and matters related to the competition will be of higher interest in the coming three weeks as the five teams will keenly contest to take hold of the title and the prize money that is worth Rs. 20 million.
The league stage will be played at the R. Premadasa ICS in Colombo, beginning with the curtain raiser game between last season’s finalists Galle Gladiators and Jaffna Kings, beginning at 7.30pm today. After 20 league games where each team will meet the other twice, the competition will move to Sooriyawewa where the playoffs will take place from December 20. The first of the knockouts, the eliminator, will be played between the two teams placed third and fourth after the league round. On the same day the top two sides will clash in the first eliminator. A second eliminator will be played on December 21 between the loser of the first qualifier and the winner of the eliminator, where the winner will advance to play the final on December 23 against the winner of the first qualifier.
| Galle Gladiators | |
| Bhanuka Rajapaksa (C), Mohammad Amir, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Nuwan Thushara, Isuru Udana, Kusal Mendis, Samit Patel, Anwar Ali, Lahiru Madushanka, Kevin Koththigoda, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Mohammad Hafeez, Tabraiz Shamsi, Pulina Tharanga, Ashian Daniel, Mohammed Shamaaz, Suminda Lakshan, Angelo Jayasinghe, Pramod Madushan, Noor Ahmad, Ben Dunk
|
| Kandy Warriors | |
| Angelo Perera (C), Charith Asalanka, Lahiru Kumara, Milinda Siriwardana, Binura Fernando, Minod Bhanuka, Sachindu Colombage, Asela Gunaratne, Ishan Jayaratne, Kamindu Mendis, Rovman Powell, Kamil Mishara, Ayana Siriwardhana, Nimesh Vimukthi, Shashika Dulshan, Kalhara Senarathne, Ahmed Shehzad, Al-Amin Hossain, Kenar Lewis, TN Sampath, Devon Thomas, Shiraz Ahmed
|
| Jaffna Kings | |
| Thisara Perera (C), Wanindu Hasaranga, Shoaib Malik, Usman Shinwari, Avishka Fernando, Maheesh Theekshana, Chaturanga de Silva, Suranga Lakmal, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Theivendiram Dinoshan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Upul Tharanga, Ashen Bandara, Faf du Plessis, Wahab Riaz, Jayden Seales, Chamika Gunasekara, Ashan Randika, Rathnaraja Thanuradan, Krishan Sanjula, Praveen Jayawickrama, Shammu Ashan
|
| Dambulla Giants | |
| Dasun Shanaka (C), Niroshan Dickwella, Ramesh Mendis, Nuwan Pradeep, Tharindu Ratnayake, Lahiru Udara, Kalana Perera, Chamikara Edirisinghe, Imran Tahir, Chamika Karunaratne, Sohaib Maqsood, Josh Little, Najibullah Zadran, Sacha de Alwis, Muditha Lakshan, Sachitha Jayathilake, Madushan Ravichandrakumar, Janith Liyanage, Dilshan Munaweera, Marchant de Lange, Phil Salt, Nuwanidu Fernando
|
| Colombo Stars | |
| Angelo Mathews (C), Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal, Ashan Priyanjan, Thikshila de Silva, Himesh Ramanayake, Lakshan Sandakan, Seekkuge Prasanna, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Naveen-ul-Haq, Pathum Nissanka, Jehan Daniel, Shiran Fernando, Ravi Rampaul, Sherafene Rutherford, Tom Banton, Keemo Paul, Jeffrey Vandersay, Ravindu Fernando, David Wiese, Haris Sohail
|
Angelo Mathews takes charge of Colombo for the second year