420 players to go under hammer for auction purse worth $ 2.5 m

Lanka Premier League (LPL) Tournament Director Samantha Dodanwela (2nd left) addresses the media in the presence of Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva, Sri Lanka Cricket Acting Secretary Chryshantha Kapuwatte and LPL official rights holder IPG Group Founder and CEO Anil Mohan

• Lanka Premier League-5 Player Auction on 21 May at Hilton Hotel

Over 400 cricketers both Sri Lankan and overseas are due to go under the hammer for the fifth edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) on 21 May at Hilton Hotel, Colombo.

Of that figure, 154 are Sri Lankans and the remaining players are from overseas.

The auction is due to commence at 12 p.m., and will have 18 initial rounds, focusing on multiple talent options such as batters, all-rounders, fast and spin bowlers, and wicketkeepers, with different segments for each criterion like capped batters, uncapped batters, etc. Following the 18 rounds, the auction will move into the acceleration round(s).

In total, the auction will have a collective purse of $ 2.5 million from all five franchise teams, while each franchise will bring in a sum of $ 500,000.

The teams will have to ensure that they invest a minimum of 85% of the purse they bring into the auction to form their respective squads.

“Initially about 620 players registered in the online portal, overseas players and some of the ex-international local players,” said LPL Tournament Director Samantha Dodanwela at a media briefing yesterday.

“From about 620 we had to bring it down to about 280 odd players according to their credentials. The national selectors gave us a set of names amounting to about 140 players including contracted players. Besides that, clubs also have given us about 40 players. The Major clubs were given the opportunity to nominate 2 players from each club. Altogether there will be about 420 players who will come under the hammer.”

Mentioning some of the top international players who will come under the hammer, Dodanwela stated, “Players who have been direct signed coming for the auction are Martin Guptill, Usman Khawaja, Fabian Allen, Rile Rossouw, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi, Alex Carey, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Tim Southee, Johnson Charles, Liton Das, Lungi Ngidi, Alex Ross, Nasim Shah, Mujib ur Rahman, Aston Agar, Mohammad Nabi, Richard Ngarava, Mitchell Swepson and Ish Sodi.”

Whilst stating that, “Since the inception this league has come a long way, and last year was the best out of all the editions in terms of quality of cricket and players who took part and also the fan engagement and spectators”, Dodanwela also pointed out that they had to remove two owners because they had failed to adhere to the guidelines set for the tournament.

“We have guidelines that every franchise owner has to follow. If we feel that they have not followed them, especially in terms of payment, then we will have to make a decision. As a result, we have terminated their contracts with us. We have got new owners for that franchise. Galle Marvels has new owners and Dambulla has got owners from Bangladesh. For Kandy there are three under discussion to become the franchise owners. We will confirm it very 

shortly.”

With B-Love Kandy being the current LPL champions, Dodanwela said that the tournament matches will commence from Kandy (Pallekele) and then move to Dambulla and finally to Colombo (R. Premadasa Stadium). The LPL will run from 1 to 21 July.

Charu Sharma, who was the auctioneer of the inaugural LPL player auction held last year, will continue for the fifth edition as well. – (ST)