Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi will lead the Galle Gladiators in the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League. The tournament will be played in Hambantota between November 26 to December 16. Meanwhile, Galle Gladiators was brought by eminent Pakistan businessman Nadeem Omar who also owns the popular Quetta Gladiators franchise in the Pakistan Super League. Initially, Sarfaraz Ahmed was supposed to lead the team but Afridi was named the skipper after Sarfaraz pulled out of the tournament.
Meanwhile, the LPL was postponed several times due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Initially, the LPL was set to take place between August 28 to September 20 but was postponed due to the constantly increasing threat of the virus.
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Shahid Afridi To Lead Galle Gladiators in LPL
”Afridi will now captain the side since he is the senior-most player in our franchise and has experience of captaincy,” Omar said.
A number of reputed T20I cricketers have withdrew their consent from playing in the tournament. The reasons for their withdrawal from the tournament are very different from each other and personal as well. This has just added to the insecurity of the tournament with it being postponed twice before due to logistical reasons.
Names like Chris Gayle, Faf de Plessis, Liam Plunkett, David Malan, Lasith Malinga, Kamran Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Hafeez and Sarfaraz withdrew from the event because of varied reasons.
Meanwhile, the reputed names who will be participating in the tournament include Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Aamir, Ehsan Ali, Azam Khan, Usman Shinwari and Shoaib Malik.
Sri Lanks’s most influential T20 player Lasith Malinga has also pulled out of the tournament citing less preparation time. In an interaction with ESPN Cricinfo, Malinga said that he did not play enough cricket in the last six months and thus the preparation time given to him is not enough he feels.
Five sides named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna will take part in the tournament.
Also Read: Big Names Pull Out From Lanka Premier League
