Big names from Pakistan available for Lanka Premier League auction

The Lanka Premier League (LPL) auction is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, June 14, with the tournament itself taking place from July 30 to August 22, 2023.

Each team participating in the tournament will consist of a total of 20 players, comprising 14 Sri Lankan players and six overseas players.

During the round-robin stage, the teams will face each other twice, and the top four teams will advance to the playoffs.

Lanka Premier League (LPL) stands out as the only third men's franchise league to hold a player auction.

 Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has confirmed that approximately 500 players have registered for the auction.

For the auction, each franchise will contribute a sum of US$ 500,000 to bid for players, resulting in a total amount of US$ 2.5 million across all five teams.

Several Pakistani cricketers have registered themselves for the league, including Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Wahab Riaz, Azam Khan, Mohammad Hasnain, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-Ul-Haq, Zaman Khan, Omar Bin Yousaf, Mir Hamza, Abdullah Shafiq, Sohaib Maqsood, Amir Jamal, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Nawaz, Wasim Jr, Sharjeel Khan, Qasim Akram, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Khan, Anwar Ali, Saim Ayub, Harris Sohail, Yasir Shah, Usman Qadir, Rumman Raees, Shahnawaz Dahani, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Haider Ali, Asif Ali, Usman Shinwari, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Haris, and Faheem Ashraf.

Before the auction, the five teams had pre-signed certain players for their squad.

Pre-signed players ahead of auction:

Colombo Strikers: Babar Azam, Matheesha Pathirana. Naseem Shah, Chamika Karunaratne

Dambulla Aura: Mathews Wade, Kusal Mendis, Lungi Ngidi, Avishka Fernando

Jaffna Kings: David Miller, Thisara Perera, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Maheesh Theekshana

Kandy Falcons: Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Wanindu Hasaranga, Fakhar Zaman, Angelo Mathews

Galle Gladiators: Shakib Al Hasan, Dasun Shanaka, Tabraiz Shamsi, Bhanuka Rajapaksa