The 2026 season was Dambulla Sixers' sixth appearance in the Lanka Premier League (LPL). They were one of the five cricket teams that competed in the 2026 LPL. The team was captained by Dinesh Chandimal and coached by Rangana Herath. The team signed four players before the draft and fourteen players in the draft.
Dambulla Sixers were the only team to be eliminated in the league stage and finished in last (fifth) place with only two wins. Reeza Hendricks scored the most runs (294) while Dushmantha Chameera took the most wickets (12) for Dambulla in the 2026 season.
Pre-season The 2026 Lanka Premier League was the 6th edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league, organised by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The tournament featured five teams competing in 24 matches from 17 July to 8 August 2026. Dambulla Sixers were previously runners-up in the 2023 season. The team finished in last (5th) place in the previous season.
Players' draft
In January 2026, the SLC announced that instead of an auction a players' draft would be held ahead of the 2026 season. The players' draft was originally scheduled for 22 March 2026 but was postponed to 1 June 2026. Each team was allowed to sign two overseas and two domestic players before the draft. In the draft, each team was required to sign at least 14 players, with a maximum of 16 players under 10 categories, including 5 overseas players in 4 categories. One overseas player had to be from an associate country while two domestic players had to be under the age of 23.
+ Pre-draft direct signings Category Domestic Overseas Icon Dushmantha Chameera Sahibzada Farhan Star Dinesh Chandimal Reeza Hendricks + Players' draft signings Category Domestic Overseas Platinum Maheesh Theekshana Fazalhaq Farooqi Gold Niroshan Dickwella Mohammad Wasim Jr. Pavan Rathnayake rowspan="2" Akila Dananjaya Classic Dhananjaya Lakshan Gulbadin Naib Ramesh Mendis Dian Forrester Sachitha Jayathilake Emerging U23 Vishwa Lahiru Kumara rowspan="2" Gayana Weerasinghe Associate Star Shadley van Schalkwyk Optional Gold rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Optional Classic
Squad Players with international caps as of the start of the 2026 LPL are listed in bold. Ages are as of . Withdrawn players are indicated by a dagger symbol () and placed at the bottom of the table.
+ Dambulla Sixers squad for the 2026 Lanka Premier League Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Category Notes 4 Akila Dananjaya Left-handed Right-arm leg break, off break Domestic Gold 5 Dushmantha Chameera Right-handed Right-arm fast Domestic Icon 6 Pavan Rathnayake Right-handed Right-arm off break, leg break Domestic Gold 14 Gulbadin Naib Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Overseas Classic Overseas 15 Vishwa Lahiru Kumara Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox Emerging U23 16 Shadley van Schalkwyk Left-handed Right-arm medium Associate Star Overseas 17 Reeza Hendricks Right-handed Right-arm off break Overseas Star Overseas 24 Sikandar Raza Right-handed Right-arm off break, leg break Overseas Platinum Overseas; replacement 25 Ramesh Mendis Right-handed Right-arm off break Domestic Classic 33 Gayana Weerasinghe Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Emerging U23 48 Niroshan Dickwella Left-handed Domestic Gold 51 Sahibzada Farhan Right-handed Overseas Icon Overseas 56 Dinesh Chandimal Right-handed Right-arm off break Domestic Star Captain 61 Maheesh Theekshana Right-handed Right-arm off break Domestic Platinum 65 Marques Ackerman Left-handed Right-arm off break Overseas Classic Overseas; replacement 68 Sachitha Jayathilake Right-handed Right-arm leg break Domestic Classic 69 Dhananjaya Lakshan Left-handed Right-arm medium-fast Domestic Classic 74 Mohammad Wasim Jr. Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Overseas Gold Overseas 83 Fazalhaq Farooqi Right-handed Left-arm fast-medium Overseas Platinum Overseas; withdrawn Dian Forrester Left-handed Right-arm fast Overseas Classic Overseas; withdrawn
Support staff Position Name Head coach Rangana Herath Bowling coach Ajith Ekanayake Fielding coach Ruvin Peiris Sources:
League stage Dambulla Sixers began their season with a win against Kandy Royals. They lost their next two matches to Jaffna Kings in their special "Pink Match" and Kandy but won against Galle Gallants. They lost their next three matches to Colombo Kaps, Galle and Colombo again and their last match of the season against Jaffna was cancelled midway due to rain, and both teams were awarded a point each. They finished the league stage at last place with five points and were eliminated.
Points table
League progression
Fixtures
Statistics + Most runs Runs Player 294 Reeza Hendricks 172 Pavan Rathnayake 163 Gulbadin Naib 158 Sahibzada Farhan 115 Marques Ackerman + Most wickets Wickets Player 12 Dushmantha Chameera 6 Fazalhaq Farooqi 4 Maheesh Theekshana Gulbadin Naib Mohammad Wasim Jr.
References
External links