Lanka Premier League: LPL 2020 – Statistical Preview

Franchise T20 cricket returns to Sri Lanka after nearly eight years as the Lanka Premier League (LPL), featuring five teams, is set to be launched on Thursday in Hambantota. The inaugural edition of the league will kick start when the Colombo Kings take on the Kandy Tuskers at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium which will host all the matches of the tournament. Jaffna Stallions, Galle Gladiators and Dambulla Viiking are the other three teams which will take part in this T20 league.

Here are some of the key stats and numbers that matter ahead of the Lanka Premier League 2020:

0 – Hambantota’s Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium is yet to host a non-International Twenty20 game. The venue stood host for seven T20I games; all of them until 2013. This meant Hambantota, on Thursday, will be hosting a T20 for the first time in more than seven years.

Six of the seven T20Is played here ended without any interruptions. The average first-innings total in those six games read 140 and the teams batting first won on four occasions.

9.63 – Malinda Pushpakumara has a bowling strike rate of 9.63 since the beginning of 2019 in the Twenty20 format; the best for any bowler in Men’s T20s in this period. The left-arm spinner has picked up 38 wickets across 16 T20s he played since the start of 2019 at an average of 9.36. Pushpakumara picked at least one wicket in all those 16 T20 games and has a total of seven hauls of 3+ wickets.

33.17 – Dasun Shanaka has got the best batting average in the Twenty20 format on Sri Lankan soil among the players with 500+ runs. The all-rounder scored 1294 runs in 50 innings at an average of 33.17 and a strike rate of 151.69.

Shanaka has struck three centuries and four fifties in T20s he played in Sri Lanka. The Dambulla Viiking’s player has also hit a total of 85 sixes in this format in Sri Lanka which are the 2nd most for any player behind Upul Tharanga (86 sixes).

81 – Number of wickets for Akila Dananjaya in the Twenty20 format on Sri Lankan soil; the joint 3rd most for any bowler. The off-spinner has picked those 81 wickets across 59 T20 games at an average of 16.74 and two 4-wicket hauls.

149 – Shoaib Malik needs one more wicket to complete 150 wickets in the Twenty20 format. The all-rounder from Pakistan will be representing Jaffna Stallions in the LPL 2020. Malik is already one of the three cricketers in the history of Twenty20 cricket to amass 10000 runs.

181.17 – Batting strike rate of Seekkuge Prasanna in the T20 format on Sri Lankan soil is the highest for any player who has faced at least 250 balls. No player other than Seekkuge has a T20 strike rate of more than 160 with the bat in Sri Lanka. Prasanna scored 953 runs in 53 T20 innings he played on the Sri Lankan soil with help of three fifties. Seekkuge Prasanna will be representing the Kandy Tuskers in this tournament.

1966 – Irfan Pathan needs 34 more runs to complete 2000 runs in Twenty20 cricket. The left-arm pacer has already picked 173 wickets in this format. Hence, with those 34 runs, Irfan will become just the 2nd Indian player after Ravindra Jadeja to complete the double of 2000+ runs and 150+ wickets in T20 cricket. The all-rounder from India will be part of the Kandy Tuskers during the inaugural edition of LPL.