The 2023 Lanka Premier League, also known as Skyfair.news LPL T20, for sponsorship reasons, was the fourth edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), a Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in Sri Lanka. It began on 30 July and the final was held on 20 August 2023. The tournament was played by five teams at three international venues. The league was organized by the Sri Lanka Cricket. Jaffna Kings were the defending champions. This was the first Lanka Premier League season to feature an auction as the previous editions used to have the draft to choose players.

Due to change of ownership various teams changed names. Kandy Falcons became B-Love Kandy, Galle Gladiators changed to Galle Titans, and Colombo Stars were renamed as Colombo Strikers.

On 20 August 2023, B-Love Kandy defeated Dambulla Aura by 5 wickets in the final, to win their maiden LPL title.

The total attendance in the 24 games was 200,000, the average attendance per game was 8,333.https://www.mykhel.com/cricket/lpl-2023-wasim-akram-and-sanath-jayasuriya-applaud-ipg-group-for-milestone-tv-reach-of-650-million-229915.html

Competition format Each team can include a maximum of six international players in their squad. The five teams will play each other twice in the round-robin stage. Among them, the top four teams will advance to the playoffs.

Teams +TeamCityDebutOwnerCaptainCoachColombo StrikersColombo, Western Province2023 Sagar KhannaNiroshan DickwellaSimon HelmotDambulla AuraDambulla, Central Province2022 Viranjith ThambugalaKusal MendisAvishka GunawardeneGalle TitansGalle, Southern Province2023 Nayana WasalathilakaDasun ShanakaChamara KapugedaraJaffna KingsJaffna, Northern Province2021 Subaskaran AllirajahThisara PereraThilina KandambyB-Love KandyKandy, Central Province2023 Omar KhanWanindu HasarangaMushtaq Ahmed

Squads The players' auction was held on 14 June 2023. Prior to the auction, some big-name players signed contracts with the five teams. These players include Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Shakib Al Hasan and David Miller.

Colombo Strikers Dambulla Aura Galle Titans Jaffna Kings B-Love Kandy Niroshan Dickwella (c) Babar Azam Naseem Shah Chamika Karunarathne Pathum Nissanka Lakshan Sandakan Nipun Dhananjaya Movin Subasingha Lahiru Udara Eshan Malinga Shashika Dulshan Nuwanidu Fernando Iftikhar Ahmed Matheesha Pathirana Jeffrey Vandersay Angelo Perera Dhananjaya Lakshan Kavishka Anjula Ramesh Mendis Mohammad Nawaz Ahan Wickramasinghe Imam Ul Haq Shoriful Islam Kusal Mendis (c) Avishka Fernando Dhananjaya de Silva Kusal Perera Hayden Kerr Sadeera Samarawickrama Binura Fernando Noor Ahmad Sachitha Jayathilake Janith Liyanage Dushan Hemantha Pramod Madushan Shahnawaz Dahani Lakshan Edirisinghe Jehan Daniel Wanuja Sahan Kavidu Pathirana Ravindu Fernando Alex Ross Traveen Mathew Manelker de Silva Praveen Jayawickrama Ben McDermott Dasun Shanaka (c) Shakib Al Hasan Tabraiz Shamsi Bhanuka Rajapaksha Seekuge Prasanna Lahiru Kumara Lasith Croospulle Sohan de Livera Ashan Priyanjan Mohammad Mithun Minod Bhanuka Pasindu Sooriyabandara Shevon Daniel Mohamed Shiraz Lahiru Samarakoon Kasun Rajitha Akila Dananjaya Chad Bowes Tim Seifert Sonal Dinusha Avishka Perera Anuk Fernando Vishwa Fernando Milan Rathnayake Liton Das Richard Ngarava Thisara Perera (c) David Miller Maheesh Theekshana Rahmanullah Gurbaz Charith Asalanka Dunith Wellalage Shoaib Malik Pathum Kumara Vijayakanth Viyaskanth Theesan Vithushan Asanka Manoj Nishan Madushka Asitha Fernando Nuwan Thushara Dilshan Madushanka Hardus Viljoen Ashan Randika Ratnarajah Thenurathan Chris Lynn Asela Gunaratne Nandre Burger Towhid Hridoy Wanidu Hasaranga (c) Mujeeb Ur Rahman Fakhar Zaman Angelo Mathews Isuru Udana Dinesh Chandimal Mohammad Hasnain Dushmantha Chameera Sahan Arachchige Ashen Bandara

Asif Ali Navod Paranavithana Sarfaraz Ahmed Kamindu Mendis Nuwan Pradeep Chaturanga de Silva Lahiru Madushanka Aamer Jamal Malsha Tharupathi Thanuka Dabare Lasith Abeyratne Avishka Tharindu

Player auction The auction was held on 14 June 2023, where the five franchises were allowed to spend a maximum of US$500,000 each. The auction was held at Shangri-La Colombo and the likes of Wasim Akram and Angelo Mathews were available during the player auction. Popular Indian cricket commentator Charu Sharma was invited as the chief auctioneer for the auction.

Each team was allowed to have a squad of 20-24 players, inclusive of a mandatory six overseas players and 14-19 domestic players. Any money not spent from the pre-signing kitty cannot be carried over to the auction. The teams also had a right-to-match option for their players, and the money for that had to come from within the auction kitty.

Bidding took place between two teams at any given time, with a third team allowed to join the bidding only once one of the first two teams had withdrawn from the process. An "accelerated" auction process occurred after the first 70 names were presented for bidding. This process saw franchises nominate 15-20 players, including unsold players, who will go under the hammer.

Players were categorised into two groups, capped and uncapped. Each capped player will be able to register themselves under base prices ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 in $10,000 increments. Uncapped players will be classed with a base price of $20,000 - those having played a minimum of 50 first-class matches; $10,000 - a minimum of 25 first-class matches, or a minimum of 18 matches in the LPL or any other equivalent T20 franchise league; and $5000 - those who do not meet any of the criteria mentioned above.

Dilshan Madushanka became the auction's most expensive player to be picked when Jaffna Kings bought him for a record price of $92,000. New Zealand's Chad Bowes became the auction's most expensive overseas player to be picked at $58,000 and it raised eyebrows given Bowes is yet to establish and prove himself at international level.

It was reported that some prominent overseas players including the likes of Rassie van der Dussen were not picked by any of the franchise owners due to the said players being signed up by rival franchise T20 leagues such as Global T20 Canada which are also set to clash with LPL during the same time period.

Venues R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo and Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy were selected as the venues.World-Class Cricketers Set Sights on LPL 2023: Sri Lanka’s T20 Tournament Sparkles! Sri Lanka Cricket. Retrieved 25 April 2023

Colombo Kandy R. Premadasa Stadium Pallekele International Cricket Stadium Capacity: 35,000 Capacity: 35,000

Standings

The top four teams qualified for the playoffs Advance to Qualifier 1 Advance to Eliminator

Fixtures

Playoffs

Final

Statistics Most runs

Player Team Matches Runs. High score Wanindu Hasaranga B-Love Kandy 10 279 64 Babar Azam Colombo Strikers 8 261 104 Dinesh Chandimal B-Love Kandy 10 259 50 Avishka Fernando Dambulla Aura 10 24470 Sadeera Samarawickrama Dambulla Aura 10 234 59 Source: ESPNcricinfo

Most wickets

Player Team Matches Wickets Best bowling Wanindu Hasaranga B-Love Kandy 10 19 6/9 Nuwan Pradeep B-Love Kandy 7 14 3/21 Noor Ahmad Dambulla Aura 8 12 3/27 Matheesha Pathirana Colombo Strikers 8123/24 Tabraiz Shamsi Galle Titans 9 124/20 Source: ESPNCricinfo

References

External links Series home at ESPNcricinfo