Lanka Premier League 2023 is all set to start with season opener between Jaffna Kings and Colombo Strikers tonight. The first five matches of the tournament will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium. This tournament has always been dominated by the spinners in the past and we can expect the same this time around as well.
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Colombo has been a venue that has not been very batting-friendly in T20s. The fans would want the batters to smash sixes and fours for their entertainment. In the past, we have seen the size of boundaries getting reduced in this league to aid the batters.
Spinner Maheesh Theekshana is a part of the Jaffna Kings and he will be one of their most important players in the tournament. Both Jaffna and Colombo have some star players in their ranks and a close first match is on the cards.
R Premdasa Stadium Pitch Report For LPL 2023 Matches
The pitch at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, has always been favourable for the spinners. This was observed in the recently concluded ACC Emerging Asia Cup 2023. The batters will be able to play their shots on a very fresh wicket and the powerplay overs will be very crucial for them.
The average first innings score in the last five T20Is here has been just 128 runs. Out of five, four of the games have been won by the chasing teams. We can expect the pitch to perform better than that in the initial matches of the LPL. The slower bowlers can extract a good bit of turn from the wicket which will trouble the batters in the middle overs.
The boundaries are not that big and the outfield is fast as well. Anything above 160 runs can be a really good score on this track. An overcast day is expected in Colombo. Taking that into consideration, both the captains might look to bowl first after winning the toss on a Sunday night.
