The Lanka Premier League 2023 fourth edition is just days away from its first scheduled fixture. The tournament is slated to take place from 30th July to 20th August in R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo & Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy. This was the first edition to feature an auction system as previous editions used to have a draft system to choose players.
Jaffna Kings are the defending champions as they defeated Colombo Stars in the 2022 edition final by two wickets. The Jaffna franchise has won all three previous LPL editions.
Lanka Premier League 2023
Top international stars are expected to sparkle at the tournament as Pakistani skipper Babar Azam will be joined by the experienced David Miller & Shakib ul Hasan.
Several high-profile Sri Lankan players such as Thisara Perera, Wanidu Hasaranga, and Angelo Mathews will also play in the league, which has roped in ‘skyfair.news’ as the title sponsor for its fourth edition. Each team in the tournament represents different regions from Sri Lanka and will compete in a series of matches to be held in Kandy and Colombo.
Format
LPL 2023 will feature five teams – Colombo Strikers, Dambulla Aura, Galle Titans, Jaffna Kings, and B-Love Kandy. Every team will play each other twice in the double round-robin league format between July 31 & August 15
The playoffs – Qualifier 1 on August 17, Eliminator on August 17, Qualifier 2 on August 19, and the final on August 20. There is a reserve day for the final, on August 21.
Fixtures
Jaffna Kings will start their defense in the opening game of the tournament when they face last year’s runners-up Colombo Strikers in a repeat of their 2022 final on 30th July.
A total of 24 matches will be played across 23 days at two venues only.
Also read: Sri Lanka set to host Afghanistan vs Pakistan ODI Series before the Asia Cup
Pakistani Players
A total of seven Pakistan cricketers have stayed back in Sri Lanka to participate in Lanka Premier League 2023. The names include Babar Azam, Aamir Jamal, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Hasan Ali & Sarfaraz Ahmed.
They will also be joined by other players such as Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz, Fakhar Zaman, Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan, Mohammad Haris & Mohammad Husnain.
LPL Captains
Babar Azam was initially announced as the captain to lead Colombo but due to the overlapping of LPL with the Afghanistan series in August, he passed on the opportunity to Dickwella. He didn’t want to disturb the team structure although his fans were disappointed.
- Colombo Strikers: Dickwella (M:115, R: 2179, SR 139, 12 fifties, HS: 79*)
- Dambulla Aura: Kusal Mendis (M:117, R: 3219, SR 137, 27 fifties, HS: 86)
- Galle Titans: Dasun Shanaka (M:186, R:3750, SR 142, 3 hundreds, 15 fifties, HS: 131*
W 59, Ave 27.30, Ec 8.81, BBI: 3-6) - Jaffna Kings: Thisara Perera (M:355, R:4459, SR 151, 12 fifties, HS: 97*
W 275, Ave 26.63, Ec 8.60, 2 5WIs, BBI: 5-26) - B-Love Kandy: Wanindu Hasaranga (M:147, R:1481, SR 137, 5 fifties, HS: 77*
W 197, Ave 17.59, Ec 6.91, 2 5WIs, BBI: 5-18)
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