The 2026 season was Kandy Royals' 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 Angelo Mathews and coached by Chaminda Vaas. The team signed four players before the draft and sixteen players in the draft.
Kandy Royals finished in fourth place in the league stage, and advanced to Eliminator in the playoffs; which they lost to Colombo Kaps. Lahiru Udara scored the most runs (434) while Nuwan Thushara took the most wickets (14) for Kandy in the 2026 season. Udara was also the highest run-scorer in the 2026 LPL.
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.
Kandy Royals had previously won the LPL title once in the 2023 season. The team finished in 3rd place in the previous season. Ahead of the season, the franchise was purchased by Sandhya Ajjarapu, a US-based investor and entrepreneur, and was renamed to Kandy Royals from Kandy Falcons.
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 in 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 Wanindu Hasaranga Moeen Ali Star Angelo Mathews Vijay Shankar + Players' draft signings Category Domestic Overseas Platinum Nuwan Thushara Rahmanullah Gurbaz Gold Kusal Perera Daniel Sams Asitha Fernando rowspan="2" Garuka Sanketh Classic Vishen Halambage Dale Phillips Muditha Lakshan Zahir Khan Lahiru Udara Emerging U23 Sahan Mihira rowspan="2" Pavan Sandesh Associate Star Brandon McMullen Optional Gold Dushan Hemantha rowspan="2" Optional Classic Isitha Wijesundara
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 Withdrawn players are indicated by a dagger symbol () and placed at the bottom of the table.
+ Kandy Royals squad for the 2026 Lanka Premier League Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Category Notes 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi Left-handed Left-arm fast Overseas Gold Overseas; replacement 15 Muditha Lakshan Right-handed Slow left-arm orthodox Domestic Classic 27 Pavan Sandesh Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Emerging U23 32 Lahiru Udara Right-handed Domestic Classic 34 Dushan Hemantha Right-handed Right-arm leg break Domestic Gold 49 Wanindu Hasaranga Right-handed Right-arm leg break Domestic Icon 53 Nuwan Thushara Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Domestic Platinum 59 Vijay Shankar Right-handed Right-arm medium Overseas Star Overseas 69 Angelo Mathews Right-handed Right-arm medium Domestic Star Captain 75 Zahir Khan Left-handed Left-arm wrist spin Overseas Classic Overseas 78 Asitha Fernando Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Domestic Gold 92 Garuka Sanketh Left-handed Right-arm medium Domestic Gold 95 Dale Phillips Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Overseas Classic Overseas 153 Kusal Perera Left-handed Domestic Gold Kavija Gamage Right-handed Right-arm off break Domestic Classic Replacement Sahan Mihira Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Emerging U23 Isitha Wijesundara Left-handed Right-arm medium-fast Domestic Classic 6 Vishen Halambage Right-handed Right-arm leg break Domestic Classic Withdrawn 8 Brandon McMullen Right-handed Right-arm medium Associate Star Overseas; withdrawn 18 Moeen Ali Left-handed Right-arm off break Overseas Icon Overseas; withdrawn 21 Rahmanullah Gurbaz Right-handed Right-arm medium Overseas Platinum Overseas; withdrawn 26 Sediqullah Atal Left-handed Overseas Platinum Overseas; replacement; withdrawn Daniel Sams Right-handed Left-arm fast-medium Overseas Gold Overseas; withdrawn
Support staff Position Name Head coach Chaminda Vaas Bowling coach Dhammika Prasad Fielding coach Upul Chandana Sources:
League stage Kandy Royals began their season with two losses to Dambulla Sixers and Colombo Kaps. They won their next match against Dambulla but lost to Colombo again. They won their next match against Galle Gallants but lost to Jaffna Kings. They won their next match against Galle but lost to Jaffna again and finished the league stage at fourth place with six points and advanced to Eliminator in the playoffs.
Points table
League progression
Fixtures
Playoffs Bracket
Eliminator
Statistics + Most runs Runs Player 434 Lahiru Udara 184 Angelo Mathews 150 Vijay Shankar 149 Dale Phillips 129 Moeen Ali + Most wickets Wickets Player 14 Nuwan Thushara 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi 7 Dushan Hemantha 6 Wanindu Hasaranga 5 2 players
References
External links