The 2026 season was Colombo Kaps' sixth appearance in the Lanka Premier League (LPL). They were one of the five cricket teams that competed in the 2026 LPL. Mid-season, Kamindu Mendis took over as the captain after Kusal Mendis withdrew due to injury. The team was coached by Chamara Kapugedera. The team signed four players before the draft and sixteen players during it.
Colombo Kaps finished in first place in the league stage and advanced to Eliminator in the playoffs. They won against Kandy Royals in Eliminator but lost Qualifier 1 to Galle Gallants. Captain Kamindu scored the most runs (280) while Mujeeb Ur Rahman took the most wickets (13) for Colombo 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.
Colombo Kaps were previously runners-up in the 2022 season. The team finished in 4th place in the previous season. In October 2025, the SLC terminated SKKY Group's ownership of the franchise for failing to fulfill contractual obligations. The franchise was then purchased by Witness Sports Alliance LLC, led by Indian entrepreneurs Saranyan Palaniswamy and K.C. Shyam Kangayan, and was renamed to Colombo Kaps from Colombo Strikers.
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 Kusal Mendis James Neesham Star Kamindu Mendis Ben McDermott + Players' draft signings Category Domestic Overseas Platinum Binura Fernando Mujeeb Ur Rahman Gold Sadeera Samarawickrama Shahnawaz Dahani Milan Rathnayake rowspan="2" Janith Liyanage Classic Jeffrey Vandersay Mohammad Haris Thanuka Dabare Hasan Mahmud Movin Subasingha Emerging U23 Malsha Tharupathi rowspan="2" Sharujan Shanmuganathan Associate Star Kushal Bhurtel Optional Gold Wanuja Sahan rowspan="2" Optional Classic Anthony Arul Pragasam
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.
+ Colombo Kaps squad for the 2026 Lanka Premier League Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Category Notes 2 Thanuka Dabare Left-handed Right-arm off break Domestic Classic 5 Wanuja Sahan Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox Domestic Gold 7 Mujeeb Ur Rahman Right-handed Right-arm off break Overseas Platinum Overseas 10 Malsha Tharupathi Right-handed Right-arm leg break Emerging U23 14 Kushal Bhurtel Right-handed Right-arm leg break Associate Star Overseas 19 Ashen Bandara Right-handed Right-arm leg break Domestic Icon Replacement 21 Kamindu Mendis Left-handed Ambidextrous spin Domestic Star Captain 23 Sadeera Samarawickrama Right-handed Domestic Gold 24 Ripon Mondol Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Overseas Classic Overseas; replacement 25 Sharujan Shanmuganathan Right-handed Right-arm leg break Emerging U23 37 Milan Rathnayake Left-handed Right-arm medium-fast Domestic Gold 45 Shahnawaz Dahani Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Overseas Gold Overseas 46 Jeffrey Vandersay Right-handed Right-arm leg break Domestic Classic 47 Ben McDermott Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Overseas Star Overseas 50 James Neesham Left-handed Right-arm medium-fast Overseas Icon Overseas 51 Movin Subasingha Right-handed Right-arm off break Domestic Classic 69 Anthony Arul Pragasam Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Domestic Classic 71 Binura Fernando Right-handed Left-arm medium-fast Domestic Platinum 83 Rubin Hermann Left-handed Overseas Classic Overseas; replacement 95 Janith Liyanage Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Domestic Gold 13 Kusal Mendis Right-handed Right-arm leg break Domestic Icon Captain; withdrawn 29 Mohammad Haris Right-handed Right-arm off break Overseas Classic Overseas; withdrawn 91 Hasan Mahmud Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Overseas Classic Overseas; withdrawn
Support staff Position Name Head coach Chamara Kapugedera Bowling coach Nuwan Kulasekara Fielding coach Vimukthi Deshapriya Sources:
League stage Colombo Kaps began their season with a loss to Galle Gallants. They won their next match against Kandy Royals but lost to Jaffna Kings. They won their next two matches against Kandy and Dambulla Sixers but lost to Jaffna again. They won their next match against Dambulla but lost to Galle again and finished the league stage at third place with eight points and advanced to Eliminator in the playoffs.
Points table
League progression
Fixtures
Playoffs Bracket
Eliminator
Qualifier 2
Statistics + Most runs Runs Player 280 Kamindu Mendis 253 Ben McDermott 207 Janith Liyanage 196 Rubin Hermann 173 James Neesham + Most wickets Wickets Player 13 Mujeeb Ur Rahman 9 Wanuja Sahan Shahnawaz Dahani 7 James Neesham Malsha Tharupathi
References
External links