The player draft for the Lanka Premier League 2021 concluded with some interesting picks and a number of surprising omissions on the 9th of November.
Sri Lanka’s premier T20 League will take place without the immediate past captain, Kusal Perera, the vice-captain named for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 Dhananjaya De Silva, and a couple of the most senior active cricketers in the country including Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal.
Other notable omissions include Minod Bhanuka, Sandun Weerakkody, Praveen Jayawickrama, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Vishwa Fernando, Sahan Arachchige, Akila Dananjaya, Kasun Rajitha and Oshawa Fernando.
On the contrary, 35-year-old Gihan Rupasinghe, who has only 56 T20s under his belt, Sacha Seneviratne, who has not played a single professional T20, and Udara Jayasundera, who played 2 Tests for Sri Lanka and has a T20 average of 19 and strike rate of 106 have attracted buyers.
However, superstar of global T20 leagues, Chris Gayle is expected to be in action in the 2nd edition of Lanka Premier League as the Universe Boss has been picked by the Colombo Stars franchise.
The 5-team tournament will be played from the 5th to 23rd of December. The teams are as follows,
Colombo Stars
The Colombo-based franchise had a change in ownership and will compete under their new name, Colombo Stars. The franchise acquired a few exceptional T20 cricketers both local and overseas.
As mentioned already, Chris Gayle will be representing Colombo Stars in the tournament. Alongside Gayle, they have some exciting batting power in Ahmed Shehzad of Pakistan and the local hard-hitters Dilshan Munaweera and Seekkuge Prasanna.
They also have the extra pace from their Icon player Dushmantha Chameera and the 7-footer Mohommad Irfan from Pakistan.
Colombo Stars Squad:
- Chris Gayle (West Indies)
- Dushmatha Chameera
- Ahamed Shehzad (Pakistan)
- Dilshan Munaweera
- Mohamed Irfan (Pakistan)
- Al Amin Hossain (Bangladesh)
- Pathum Nissanka
- Lakshan Sandakan
- Seekuge Prasanna
- Manpreet Singh (India)
- Gihan Rupasinghe
- Taskin Ahamed (Bangladesh)
- Lahiru Gamage
- TM Sampath
- Nuwanidu Fernando
- Jehan Daniel
- Malindu Maduranga
- Nalin Priyadarshana
- Hashan Dumindu
- Kanagarathnam Kapilraj
Galle Gladiators
Last year’s runners up are the only franchise that comes into the tournament without a change in ownership.
Their line-up includes a few big names of present day T20 cricket in Sri Lanka in the likes of Isuru Udana – the Local Icon of the team -, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis.
They also have valuable experience in their retained Pakistani duo, Mohammad Amir and Sarfaraaz Ahmed.
Their new buys, Tabraiz Shamzi, Samit Patel and Anwar Ali, who are all cricketers in-demand for T20s, make them look stronger on paper than last year.
Galle Gladiators Squad:
- Mohamed Hafeez (Pakistan)
- Isuru Udana
- Bhanuka Rajapaksa
- Danushka Gunatilleke
- Kusal Mendis
- Sarfraaz Ahamed (Pakistan)
- Mohamed Aamir (Pakistan)
- Tabraiz Shamsi (South Africa)
- Dhananjaya Lakshan
- Samit Patel (England)
- Pulina Tharanga
- Anwar Ali (Pakistan)
- Nuwan Thushara
- Lahiru Madushanka
- Dilshan Madushanka
- Ashain Daniel
- Kevin Koththigoda
- Mohommad Shamaaz
- Suminda Lakshan
- Angelo Jayasinghe
Dambulla Giants
The team led by Sri Lanka present T20 skipper Dasun Shanaka have a global mix of talent in their squad.
Players like Joshua Little from Ireland, Odean Smith from West Indies and Najibullah Zadran of Afghanistan are all lesser known cricketers who can have a huge impact on the game. Both Little and Najibullah had decent outings at the recently concluded T20 World Cup as well.
South African duo Rilee Rossouw and Imran Tahir look by far the most seasoned campaigners in the squad while some of the local fresh legs like Chamika Karunaratne, Lahiru Udara and Tharindu Ratnayake should be interesting to watch.
Dambulla Giants squad:
- Niroshan Dickwella
- Chamika Karunaratne
- Dasun Shanaka
- Imran Tahir (South Africa)
- Ramesh Mendis
- Rilee Rossouw (South Africa)
- Sohaib Maqsood (Pakistan)
- Odean Smith (West Indies)
- Joshua Little (Ireland)
- Nuwan Pradeep
- Najibullah Zadran (Afghanistan)
- Tharindu Ratnayake
- Lahiru Udara
- Sacha Senaviratne
- Muditha Lakshan
- Kalana Perera
- Sachitha Jayathilake
- Madushan Ravichandrakumar
- Janith Liyanage
- Chamikara Edirisinghe
Kandy Warriors
Even though the Kandy based franchise do not have any big names in their international purchases, they got some exciting young talents in their local bunch.
Players like Charith Asalanka, Lahiru Kumara, Ishan Jayaratne and Kamindu Mendis have been outstanding in local competitions in the recent past.
A couple of interesting buys in Amjad Khan of Denmark and the uncapped Bangladeshi fast bowler Mehdi Hassan Rana adds a flavour of mystery to their side.
Kandy Warriors squad:
- Rovman Powell (West Indies)
- Charith Asalanka
- Asela Gunaratne
- Lahiru Kumara
- Cameron Delport (South Africa)
- Mohamed Mithun (Bangladesh)
- Nazmul Islam (Bangladesh)
- Mehdi Hassan Rana (Bangladesh)
- Angelo Perera
- MilInda Siriwardena
- Amjad Khan (Denmark)
- Ishan Jayaratne
- Binura Fernando
- Kamindu Mendis
- Kamil Mishara
- Ayana Siriwardena
- Nimesh Vimukthi
- Udara Jayasundara
- Shashika Dilshan
- Kalhara Senaratne
Jaffna Kings
The defending champions too had a change in their name and ownership this year. Competing under the name of Jaffna Kings, they still managed to secure a few of their core players from last year’s winning team.
Being led by the same captain, Thisara Perera, the team retained players like Wanindu Hasaranga, Chathuranga de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Avishika Fernando and Usman Shinwari.
With a good mix of youth and experience, local and international talents, Jaffna seems like a good team on paper.
The new purchases like Upul Tharanga, Wahab Riaz and Mr Reliable, Faf du Plessis, makes them easily one of the most experienced sides of the tournament.
Jaffna Kings squad:
- Shoaib Malik (Pakistan)
- Faf Du Plessis (South Africa)
- Thisara Perera
- Wahab Riaz (Pakistan)
- Avishka Fernando
- Maheesh Theekshana
- Wanindu Hasaranga
- Usman Shinwari (Pakistan)
- Rahmanulla Gurbaaz (Afghanistan)
- Chathuranga de Silva
- Upul Tharanga
- Jayden Seales (West Indies)
- Suranga Lakmal
- Ashen Bandara
- Chamika Gunasekara
- Vijayakanth Viyaskanth
- Theivendiram Dinoshan
- Rathnarajah Thenurathan
- Ashan Randika
- Krishan Sanjula
This tournament presents a great opportunity for the uncapped talent in Sri Lanka to show what they can do. This year too there are a host of youngsters waiting to put their best foot forward. Here is the list of uncapped cricketers who will take part in the LPL 2021.
List of uncapped Sri Lankan cricketers in LPL 2021
Colombo Stars
- TM Sampath
- Nuwanidu Fernando
- Jehan Daniel
- Malindu Maduranga
- Nalin Priyadarshana
- Hashan Dumindu
- Kanagarathnam Kapilraj
Galle Gladiators
- Pulina Tharanga
- Nuwan Thushara
- Dilshan Madushanka
- Ashain Daniel
- Kevin Koththigoda
- Mohommad Shamaaz
- Suminda Lakshan
- Angelo Jayasinghe
Dambulla Giants
- Tharindu Ratnayake
- Lahiru Udara
- Sacha Senaviratne
- Muditha Lakshan
- Kalana Perera
- Sachitha Jayathilaka
- Madushan Ravichandrakumar
- Janith Liyanage
- Chamikara Edirisinghe
Kandy Warriors
- Ishan Jayaratne
- Kamil Mishara
- Ayana Siriwardena
- Nimesh Vimukthi
- Shashika Dilshan
- Kalhara Senaratne
Jaffna Kings
- Chamika Gunasekara
- Vijayakanth Viyaskanth
- Theivendiram Dinoshan
- Rathnarajah Thenurathan
- Ashan Randika
- Krishan Sanjula
