Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews, former South Africa limited-overs skipper Faf du Plessis and West Indies all-rounder with quite 300 T20 matches under his belt, Andre Russel are some of the highest names picked by the Colombo Kings within the Lanka Premier League Player’s Draft on Monday. Mathews is that the ‘Local Icon’ within the team while du Plessis and Russel are the 2 overseas icons.
Dav Whatmore took Sri Lanka to the highest of the planet in limited-overs cricket once they won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1996, is a component of the coaching set-up of the Colombo franchisee within the League, Whatmore has coached Pakistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe apart from Sri Lanka.
Kandy Tuskers have Chris gayle and Liam Plunkett as their overseas signings and Kushal Janith as their local icon. Hashan Tillakaratne will be the coach of the team.
Galle Gladiators having two overseas signings in the name of Afridi and Colin Ingram whereas having Malinga as their local icon. Moin Khan will be the coach of the team. The Local Icon for Dambulla Hawks is Dashun Shanka while David Miller and Carlos Brathwaite remain as the overseas signings. The Hawks team are going to be coached by Jon Lewis. Jaffna Stallions have Dawid Malan and Wanindu Hasaranga as their 2 overseas signings and Thisara Perera as a local icon.
The Draft was held online and attending during the draft were IPG CEO Mr Anil Mohan, SLC VP Mr Ravin Wickramaratne, SLC CEO Mr Ashley de Silva, franchisee owners and head coaches of each team.
The matches are scheduled to begin from November 21 for the Lankan Premier League and will go on till December 13th 2020. In 15 days the teams are expected to compete in around 23 matches.