Lanka Premier League 2021: Chris Gayle, Faf du Plessis, Irfan Pathan and Shahid Afridi registers for the draft

Lanka Premier League 2021: Fan favourite players like Chris Gayle, Faf du Plessis, and Irfan Pathan have registered for the draft.

The second season of the Lanka Premier League is set to start on 5 December 2021. Sri Lankan cricket board started their own T20 franchise tournament last year. Jaffna Stallions won the inaugural 2020 season by defeating Galle Gladiators in the finals.

Danushka Gunathilaka was the highest run-scorer of the last season, whereas Wanindu Hasaranga topped the wicket-taking charts. Hambantota hosted all the games last season, whereas there were no spectators allowed.

Lanka Premier League 2021 Draft

The draft of Lanka Premier League 2021 was set to take place on 4th November, but it is now postponed to 9th November. In the last season, players like Andre Russel, Mohammad Amir, Samit Patel, etc participated in the league. This year, Lankan Cricket Board is expecting to increase the quality of overseas participants.

As many as 600 players, along with 300 overseas have registered for the draft of the upcoming LPL 2021. If reports are to be believed, players like Irfan Pathan, Faf du Plessis, Chris Gayle, and Shahid Afridi have registered for the draft. Faf was the 2nd highest run-scorer of IPL 2021, whereas Gayle is playing in the T20 World Cup. Afridi and Pathan are retired players, but they have a solid fanbase as well.

Teams are allowed to make a team of 20 players, of which six can be overseas. Five teams will take part in the tournament with the cities of Colombo, Jaffna, Kandy, Dambulla, and Galle. There will be certain categories in the draft such as Icon Player, Diamond Player, ‘Local and Overseas Gold Player’, and ‘Local and Overseas Classic Player’.

Apart from overseas players, some Sri Lankan youngsters have also made their name this year. Charith Asalanka, Maheesh Theekshana, and Pathum Nissanka will be in high demand in the draft.