Lanka Premier League 2020 News

Former Pakistan all-rounder and the captain of the Galle Gladiators in the ongoing Lanka Premier League, Shahid Afridi has decided to leave the tournament midway in order to attend a personal emergency at home. However, he said that he will return to lead the Galle-based franchise once the situation becomes under control. Shahid Afridi had taken the LPL by storm with on-field spats and signature swashbuckling innings of 58 runs from 23 balls. He was involved in an on-field altercation with an Afghan all-rounder Naveen-ul Haq who was playing for the Kandy Tuskers. Shahid Afridi had taken to Twitter to react to the on-field heated interaction and suggested that young players should refrain from using abusive languages while playing the game of cricket. Afridi’s departure would be a massive blow to the Gladiator who are already languishing at the bottom of the points table by losing all the three matches that they have played in the inaugural edition of the league.

The flare between Shahid Afridi doesn’t seem to be dying down soon as the Afghan cricketer replied to the Pakistan legend’s comments, which he said as advice to him post the game between the Kandy Tuskers (Nvaeen’s side) and Afridi led Glle Gladiators. Although, the center of the controversy or the fight wasn’t Afridi. The incident took place at the end of the game when Pakistan and Galle pacer Mohammad Amir had a heated exchange with Amir and players had to separate the two. Afridi, replying to a Sky Sports video in which he was seen scowling to Naveen during the customary after match handshakes, tweeted, “My advice to the young player was simple, play the game and don't indulge in abusive talk. I have friends in the Afghanistan team and we have very cordial relations. Respect for teammates and opponents is the basic spirit of the game.” Replying to this tweet from the 40-year-old Afridi, Naveen, 21, said, “Always ready to take advice and give respect, Cricket is a gentleman’s game but if someone says you all are under our feet and will stay their then he is not only talking about me but also talking abt my ppl. #give #respect #take #respect.” What Naveen suggested through his tweet was that Amir tried to insult Naveen and his Afghan people, of course, it could never be verified. As far as the game in Hambantota is concerned, Kandy tuskers had beaten Galle by 25 runs.

Former Pakistan all-rounder and world-famous big hitter Shahid Afridi announced his arrival in Lanka Premier League (LPL) in style as he hit a 23-ball 58 which included six colossal sixes and three fours to set the Galle Gladiators inning on fire at Hambantota. But the bigger question that shocked people across the cricket fraternity are asking is: how was he able to play in the first place without completing his mandatory quarantine period. Afridi arrived in the island nation only on Tuesday, after missing his flight on Monday. He was said to miss the first two matches of the league due to quarantine. The 40-year-old, having already contracted COVID-19 once in June this year, just went through an antibody check post his normal COVID-19 check-up and was allowed to take part in the league by entering the bio-bubble, without spending much time in the isolation period. On Friday, the results from this test confirmed that Afridi had antibodies to the virus, and as such, is not at risk of spreading COVID-19. Ravin Wickramaratne, the LPL 2020 director also confirmed that LPL's medical staff had cleared Afridi following receipt of the results of the antibody test. The T20 World Cup winner, though, did complete his three-day isolated quarantine, awaiting the results of the tests. In the match, the Karachi-born player, who has more than 10,000 international runs and nearly 600 international wickets in his kitty, played a captain’s knock as he formed a crucial 62-run partnership off just 27 balls with all-rounder Shehan Jayasuriya. The partnership came at a time when, in the 14th over, half the team was back in the pavilion. The entire top-order was gone at the score of just 93. It was Afridi’s innings which took the team to a respectable total of 178. At the time of writing this news, the chasing side, Jaffna Stallions, were at 66/2 in the 8th over of their innings.

The inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League, the premium T20 tournament of Sri Lank got off to a flyer with a super over finish at Hambantotain the very first game featuring Colombo Kings and Kandy Tuskers. In the upper over, batting first the Kings made 16 runs, thanks to some lusty blows from Caribbean Andre Russell and captain Angelo Mathews. Defending the total was Isuru Udana, who had played a match-saving knock earlier with the bat. Udana was hit for a four and a six by Afghan batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz to bring down the equation to 7 from three balls, having played the first delivery as a dot ball. However, a rash umpiring decision meant that wide was not called in favour of the chasing side and thus seven was required from the last two balls. Udana, 29, bowled a wide Yorker which got Gurbaz off strike with Kusal Perera facing the first delivery in the Super over and required to hit a six, which he failed to do, thereby lose the match by four runs. Earlier in the game, the Tuskers, riding on the brilliance of their two openers, Gurbaz(53 of 22) and Perera (87 of 52) got up to 219 in the first innings. Kings too did not deter in the chase and made merry of the dew-laden pitch and ground as they equaled a daunting total of thanks to some amazing hitting by experienced pros Dinesh Chandimal (80 of 46) and a late dash by all-rounder Udana, in which he hit 34 runs off just 12 balls, which included four sixes. Chandimal for his brilliant knock was chosen as the Man of the Match. Tomorrow the Galle Gladiators captained by the deputy Bhanuka Rajapaksa in the absence of Shahid Afridi would take on Jaffna Stallions led by Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera.

In a bizarre series of events the Galle Gladiators captain in the Lanka Premier League 2020, Shahid Afridi missed his flight to the island nation and hence will not be available for the first two matches of the tournament. The former Pakistan captain tweeted about the event, assuring his fans that there was nothing to worry about as he will surely be available for the tournament. “Missed my flight to Colombo today morning Confused face. Nothing to worry about, I'll be reaching soon to take part in the LPL for Galle Gladiators. Look forward to joining my teammates,” Boom-Boom tweeted. This is a new worry for the league apart from various other events which has made the league be in the limelight but mostly for the wrong reasons. A few days ago two international cricketers in the form of Canadian Ravinderpal Singh and Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir had tested positive for the dreaded covid-19. Although the final date of 40-year-old Afridi's arrival is still not confirmed, the Galle franchise said they expect him to be in Sri Lanka by Wednesday. In his absence, Vice-captain Bhanuka Rajapaksa would lead Gladiators in the first few games. Galle plays its first game against Jaffna Stallions on November 27, and another game - against Colombo Kings on November 28. All the matches of the LPL 2020 would be played in Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium, beginning 26 November. Each day would have doubleheaders.

Lanka Premier League franchise Galle Gladiators have announced former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi as their captain for the inaugural season. He would be supported by Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa as the vice-captain. The Galle team is owned by Pakistani businessman Nadeem Omar who also owns the popular Pakistan Super League team Quetta Gladiators. Omar had initially chosen his Quetta captain Sarfaraz Ahmed to lead this side as well, but the former Pak captain was picked for the tour of New Zealand and therefore pulled out of the tournament. "Afridi will now captain the side since he is the senior-most player in our franchise and has experience of captaincy," Omar told the media. On the other hand, good news came for the franchise owned by popular Indian actor Salman Khan’s brother Sohail Khan as Kandy Tuskers signed veteran South African speedster Dale Steyn to spearhead their depleted pace department. The franchise also confirmed the news of roping in veteran Zimbabwe batter Brendon Taylor as well. The two are supposed to be the replacements for Liam Plunkett and Chris Gayle, both of whom pulled out of the tournament citing personal reasons. "We are also thrilled to announce that one of the greatest bowlers of all time @DaleSteyn62 will join the Kandy Tuskers squad!” the franchise tweeted. Five franchises -- Jaffna Stallions, Kandy Tuskers, Galle Gladiators, Colombo Kings, and Dambulla Vikings will fight it out for the inaugural LPL trophy in 23 matches, all of which would be held in the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota starting November 26. Every day will have doubleheaders and the inaugural match would be played between Colombo Kings and Kandy Tuskers.