Shahid Afridi And Sarfaraz Ahmed To Play For Galle Gladiators In Lankan Premier League (LPL)

Former Pakistan skippers Shahid Afridi and Sarfaraz Ahmed are amongst the players to feature of Galle Gladiators in the Lankan Premier League (LPL). The Galle Gladiators is a team owned by Nadeem Omar, who also owns the franchise Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League. The inaugural edition of Lankan Premier League (LPL) will kickstart from the 14th of November and continue till the 6th of December.

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Nadeem Omar announced the inclusion of Shahid Afridi and Sarfaraz Ahmed on Wednesday in Karachi while unveiling the franchise’s outfit. Shahid Afridi has played ample T20 games all over the world, including the Big Bash League, Bangladesh Premier League, PSL, and one season of IPL as well. On the other hand, Sarfaraz Ahmed served as Pakistan’s captain and kept the national team at the top of T20 rankings for a long time.

On being named as the icon player for Galle Gladiators, Shahid Afridi tweeted as: “Proud to be the icon player for Galle Gladiators. I want to thank Nadeem Omar Bhai and also congratulate him for being the first franchise owner from Pakistan in the #LPL. I’ll be seeing you all in.”

Five teams to take part in LPL; Shahid Afridi to represent Galle Gladiators

The Sri Lankan Cricket Board has already sold all rights of its leagues, including the broadcasting and media rights. Five teams will take part in the inaugural edition namely Colombo Lions, Dambulla Hawks, Galle Gladiators, Jaffna Cobras, and Kandy Tuskers. However, with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) slated to host the remaining matches of PSL in November, their players might not be available for the initial stage of LPL.

With the help of the competition, the Lankan Board aims to resume cricketing activities at home, which has not happened for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sri Lanka has witnessed 3000 cases of the same with 24 fatalities, which are relatively significantly lower compared to the Asian counterparts.

The tournament will take place across three international grounds in Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium and 23 matches would be held.

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