SI Cricket Talks
SI Cricket Talks
Lanka Premier League
In less than 24 hours, the Lanka Premier League will begin! That said, the fourth edition promises to be a good one with exciting players, both local and oversea being present. Therefore, we can’t wait to see how this edition will go! Read on to find out what awaits you in this edition.
The tournament is already off to a good start as it unofficially began a month ago with its first player auction rather than the draft system used previously. That said, the auction was an interesting one that provided surprises and twists with Dilshan Madushanka being the most expensive buy for 92,000 dollars by Jaffna Kings. Now, tomorrow the 30th of July, the tournament will officially begin with three-time defending champions Jaffna Kings taking on last year’s runner-up, the Colombo Strikers previously known as Colombo Stars. The remaining three teams in B-Love Kandy, Dambulla Aura, and Galle Titans will play their first matches in the days to follow. With that said, lets now take a look at how each team stacks up,
Jaffna Kings, the Kings are arguably the most successful team in the tournament so far as they’ve won all three previous seasons which isn’t a surprise given their strong squad featuring experienced players such as Thisara Perera, David Miller, Shoaib Malik and more. Asides from featuring experienced players their squad also have upcoming players such as Dunith Wellalage and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth out of many others. As a result of this, Jaffna Kings have a well-balanced squad with experience and youth making them the dominant team of the LPL who’ll be out to defend their title.
The Titans of the LPL in the Galle Titans are an incredibly powerful team featuring players that can clear the boundary line comfortably such as Bhanuka Rajapakse, Dasun Shanaka, and Shakib Al Hasan. As a result of this, Galle has always been a formidable team in the tournament making the finals in two editions out of three but have unfortunately ended up as runner ups hence they’ll be out to win the tournament this time around.
Colombo Strikers, the team representing the capital of Sri Lanka is more than a team representing Colombo as it is a team representing the bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and Pakistan due to its high inclusion of Pakistan players within the team featuring players such as Babar Azam, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Naseem Shah just to name a few. Therefore, this united team will be out to do one better this year and win the tournament avenging their finals defeat last year.
Kandy, the city you’ll fall in love with will be bringing all the love to the tournament this year with their team B-Love Kandy. That said, Kandy has been an unlucky team in the first two editions of the tournament finishing last on the table but last year they rose from the depths to qualify for the knockouts for the first time in the tournament, however, they were defeated in knockouts hence this year they’ll be eager to make the finals and win the tournament which is something they can definitely do with their strong spin attack featuring top spinner in Wanindu Hasaranga and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
Dambulla, a city known for its Aura will definitely be bringing the Aura to the tournament through the Dambulla Aura, this team has had a mixed bag throughout the LPL as for the first two seasons they made the knockout but in the last season, they failed to make the know out finishing last on the table. That said, this year just like the other four teams who have failed to win the tournament, Dambulla will also be out to win it using the likes of Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Matthew Wade, Noor Ahmad along with others to do so.
Overall, this promises to be yet another fun and exciting edition of the Lanka Premier League. Jaffna Kings will be looking to win the tournament for the fourth consecutive time while Galle Titans, Colombo Strikers, Dambulla Aura, and B-Love Kandy will be looking to go one better and win the tournament for the first time.
So with this said, who among the teams above do you think will be standing on top of the podium on August 20, 2023? And Who will be the highest wicket-taker and runscorer?
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