News

Dilshan Madushanka creates history after becoming the most expensive buy at LPL Auction

Published

3 years ago

June 15, 2023

Editor

Left-arm paceman Dilshan Madushanka created history when he was sold as the highest bid for Jaffna Kings at the inaugural Lanka Premier League players Auction staged at Shangri-la hotel, yesterday.

An intense bidding war between Jaffna Kings and Galle Titans was seen for Dilshan Madushanka, with both teams bidding and counterbidding each. But it was clear that the three-time Champions Jaffna Kings wanted the 22-year-old at any cost and they succeeded when they eventually bought Madushanka for whopping 92,000 Dollars.

Among the other highlights picks at Auction was, Dananjaya de Silva who was the first player to be sold on the day for Dambulla Aura for 76,000 Dollars.

Dashing batter Charith Asalanka was also clearly in demand as a bidding war broke out for him as well. In the end, the star player was sold to Jaffna Kings for 80,000 Dollars.

The Auction, which had 51 rounds, focused on multiple talent options, such as batters, all-rounders, fast and spin bowlers, and wicketkeepers, with different segments for each criterion, such as capped batters, uncapped batters, etc.

Among the unsold list were some of the key players who are having experience in franchise cricket Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh ), Paul Stirling (Ireland), Najibullah Zadran (Afghanistan), Carlos Brathwaite (West Indies), Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Imad Wasim (Pakistan), Mushfiqar Rahman and Litton Das (Bangladesh), Ben Mcdermott( Australia), Tim Serfit( New Zealand), Azam Khan ( Australia), Andrew Tye (Australia), Fazalhaq Farooqi (Afghanistan), Jasen Behrandorff (Australia), Zahir Khan (India), Imran Thahir (Pakistan) were in the unsold foreign players list while Sri test captain Dimuth Karunaratne, Leg spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis and Shehan Jayasuriya who based in USA also among the unsold list.

The Five franchises were allowed to spend $500,000 at the auction.

Following are the players sold for five franchise teams yesterday.

Jaffna Kings:

Nishan Madushka (Sri Lanka) – US$ 10,000, Asanka Manoj (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5000, Theesan Vithusan (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5000, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth (Sri Lanka) – US$ 18,000, Pathum Kumara (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5000, Shoaib Malik (Pakistan) – US$ 50,000, Dunith Wellalage (Sri Lanka) – US$ 56,000, Charith Asalanka (Sri Lanka) – US$ 80,000, Asitha Fernando (Sri Lanka) – US$ 28,000, Hardus Viljoen (South Africa) – US$ 30,000, Nuwan Thushara (Sri Lanka) – US $ 30,000

B- Love Kandy

Kamindu Mendis (Sri Lanka) – US$ 60,000, Asif Ali (Pakistan) – US$ 30,000, Navod Paranavithana (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5,000, Mohammad Haris (Pakistan) – US$ 20,000, Ashen Bandara (Sri Lanka) – US$ 40,000, Sahan Arachchige (Sri Lanka) – US$ 28,000, Dushmantha Chameera (Sri Lanka) – US$ 70,000, Mohammad Hasnain (Pakistan) – US$ 34,000, Dinesh Chandimal (Sri Lanka) – US$ 72,000, Isuru Udana (Sri Lanka) – US$ 40,000, Chathuranga de Silva (Sri Lanka) – US$ 10,000, Nuwan Pradeep (Sri Lanka) – US$ 20,000, Lahiru Madushanka (Sri Lanka) – US $ 26,000.

Galle Titans

Sohan De Livera (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5,000, Mohammad Shiraz (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5000, Shevon Daniel (Sri Lanka) – US$ 22,000, Pasidu Sooriyabandara (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5,000, Minod Bhanuka (Sri Lanka) – US$ 20,000, Mohammad Mithun (Bangladesh) – US$ 20,000, Ben Cutting (Australia) – US$ 30,000, Ashan Priyanjana (Sri Lanka) – US$ 20,000, Sohan De Livera (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5,000, Lasith Croospulle (Sri Lanka) – US$ 20,000, Lahiru Kumara (Sri Lanka) – US$ 42,000, Seekuge Prasanna (Sri Lanka) – US$ 15,000, Kasun Rajitha (Sri Lanka) – US$ 40,000

Colombo Strikers

Lahiru Udara (Sri Lanka) – US$ 10,000, Dhananjaya Lakshan (Sri Lanka) – US$ 20,000, Angelo Perera (Sri Lanka) – US$ 20,000, Jeffrey Vandersay (Sri Lanka) – US$ 20,000, Lorcan Tucker (Ireland) – US$ 10,000, Iftikhar Ahmad (Pakistan) – US$ 50,000, Nuwanidu Fernabdo (Sri Lanka) – US$ 20,000, Shashika Dulshan (Sri Lanka) – US$ 6500, Eshan Malinga (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5000, Lahiru Udara (Sri Lanka) – US$ 10,000, Movin Subasinghe (Sri Lanka) – US$ 10,000, Nipun Dananjaya (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5000, Lakshan Sandakan (Sri Lanka) – US$ 30,000, Wahab Riaz (Pakistan) – US$ 40,000, Niroshan Dickwella (Sri Lanka) – US$ 44,000, Pathum Nissanka (Sri Lanka) – US$ 40,000.

Dambulla Aura

Pramod Madushan (Sri Lanka) – US$ 34,000, Dushan Hemantha (Sri Lanka) – US$ 20,000, Janith Liyanage (Sri Lanka) – US$ 10,000, Sachitha Jayathilaka (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5,000, Noor Ahmad (Afghanistan) – US$ 50,000, Binura Fernando (Sri Lanka) – US$ 76,000, Sadeera Samarawickrama (Sri Lanka) – US$ 68,000, Hayden Kerr (Australia) – US$ 20,000, Kusal Janith Perera (Sri Lanka) – US$ 40,000, Dhananjaya De Silva (Sri Lanka) – US$ 76,000, Lakshna Edirisinghe (Sri Lanka) – US$ 5,000, Shahnawaz Dahani (Pakistan) – US$ 20,000.

Dilshan Madushanka LPL වෙන්දේසියේ මිල අධිකම මිලදී ගැනීම බවට පත්වේ.

වමත් වේගපන්දු යවන ඩිල්ෂාන් මධුශංක ඊයේ ෂැංග්‍රිලා හෝටලයේ පැවැති මංගල ලංකා ප්‍රිමියර් ලීග් ක්‍රීඩක වෙන්දේසියේදී යාපනය කිංග්ස් වෙනුවෙන් වැඩිම ලංසුවකට ඉතිහාසගත අලෙවි විය.

ජැෆ්නා කිංග්ස් සහ ගාලු ටයිටන්ස් අතර ඩිල්ෂාන් මධුශංඛ වෙනුවෙන් දැඩි ලංසු තැබීමේ සටනක් දක්නට ලැබුණු අතර කණ්ඩායම් දෙකම එක් එක් ලංසු ඉදිරිපත් කරමින් ප්‍රති-ලංසු ඉදිරිපත් කළහ. එහෙත් තුන් වතාවක් ශූරයන් වූ යාපනය කිංග්ස් කණ්ඩායමට 22 හැවිරිදි තරුණයා අවශ්‍ය වූ බව පැහැදිලි වූ අතර අවසානයේ ඔවුන් ඩොලර් 92,000 කට මධුශංක මිලදී ගත් විට ඔවුන් සාර්ථක විය.

වෙන්දේසියේ අනෙකුත් විශේෂ තේරීම් අතර, දඹුල්ල ඕරා වෙනුවෙන් ඩොලර් 76,000 කට අලෙවි වූ පළමු ක්‍රීඩකයා වූයේ ධනංජය ද සිල්වාය.

දඩබ්බර පිතිකරු චරිත් අසලංකටද ලංසු තැබීමේ තරඟයක් ඇති වූ බැවින් ඔහුටද ඉල්ලුමක් ඇති විය. අවසානයේ මෙම තරු ක්‍රීඩකයා ජැෆ්නා කිංග්ස් වෙත ඩොලර් 80,000 කට අලෙවි විය.

පිතිකරුවන්, තුන් ඉරියව් ක්‍රීඩකයින්, වේග සහ දඟ පන්දු යවන්නන් සහ කඩුලු රකින්නන් කෙරෙහි අවධානය යොමු කරමින් වට 51 කින් සමන්විත වූ වෙන්දේසිය, ජාත්‍යන්තර වරම් හිමි හා නොහිමි ක්‍රිඩකයන් යනාදී එක් එක් නිර්ණායක සඳහා විවිධ කාණ්ඩ සමඟින් මෙවර ලංසු තැබීම ආරම්භ විය.

වෙන්දේසියේදී කණ්ඩායම් පහට ඩොලර් 500,000ක් වැය කිරීමට අවසර ලැබිණි.

ඊයේ දිනයේදී ෆ්‍රැන්චයිස් කණ්ඩායම් පහක් සඳහා අලෙවි වූ ක්‍රීඩකයින් පහත දැක්වේ.

Jaffna Kings:

B- Love Kandy

Galle Titans

Colombo Strikers

Dambulla Aura

Cricket

LPL 2026 Player Draft Set for June 1 in Colombo

Published

9 hours ago

May 29, 2026

Editor

The much-anticipated Player Draft for the sixth edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2026 is scheduled to take place on June 1 in Colombo, marking a significant milestone ahead of Sri Lanka’s premier domestic T20 tournament.

A total of 421 cricketers including 179 Sri Lankan players and 242 overseas players will be available for selection during the draft process. The local player pool will consist of national representatives, domestic performers, and emerging talents, offering franchises a wide range of options as they finalize their squads for the upcoming season.

The draft will be conducted across several player categories, namely Platinum, Gold, Classic, Emerging, and Associate Stars.

Among the Sri Lankan contingent, 17 players have been listed in the Platinum category, while 34 players fall under Gold, 80 under Classic, and 48 under Emerging.

The overseas player lineup includes 31 Platinum players, 64 Gold players, 99 Classic players, and 48 players in the Associate Stars category.

The official draft proceedings will commence at 1.30 p.m. and are expected to draw the participation of all franchise owners and team management representatives.

Hon. Sunil Kumara Gamage, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, will attend the event as the Chief Guest.

Several key cricket administrators and officials are also expected to be present, including Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, Chairman of the Cricket Transformation Committee (CTC), members of the Transformation Committee, Mr. Ashley De Silva, Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka Cricket, and Mr. Samantha Dodanwela, Tournament Director of the Lanka Premier League.

The LPL has continued to grow in stature since its inception, providing a competitive platform for local talent while attracting international stars to Sri Lanka’s premier T20 competition.

Athletics

Tarushi Abisheka Wins Gold for Sri Lanka at Asian Under-20 Championships

Published

10 hours ago

May 29, 2026

Editor

Sri Lanka’s rising middle-distance runner Tarushi Abisheka delivered an outstanding performance to claim the gold medal in the girls’ 1500 metres event at the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Abisheka crossed the finish line in 4 minutes and 31.41 seconds, securing first place ahead of Iran’s Maryam Baluoutaki, who finished second, while South Korea’s Song Dawson claimed the bronze medal.

The young Sri Lankan athlete is also competing in the 800m event at the continental championship, continuing to showcase her talent on the international stage.

The Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships has attracted competitors from 40 countries, with athletes taking part in 46 events during the tournament.

Sri Lanka has fielded a 22-member team for the competition, consisting of 15 male athletes and seven female athletes.

News

India snap Sri Lanka winning streak

Published

1 day ago

May 28, 2026

Editor

Sri Lanka’s impressive winning streak at the FIBA U-18 Asia Cup SABA Qualifiers came to an end yesterday as they suffered a hard-fought 72-77 defeat against a strong Indian side at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

Coming into the match with two consecutive victories, the hosts displayed tremendous spirit and determination throughout the contest. Sri Lanka made an energetic start and matched the taller and more experienced Indian outfit in every department during the opening stages of the game.

The home team enjoyed an excellent first half and went into the breather with a narrow 43-40 lead after producing some attractive attacking basketball. Sri Lanka’s quick passing, aggressive drives to the basket and accurate shooting kept the Indian defence under constant pressure. The local cagers also showed great discipline in defence, forcing several turnovers and capitalising on fast-break opportunities.

However, India bounced back strongly after halftime with improved defensive work and better control in the final two quarters. Their experience and physical advantage gradually helped them regain momentum as they edged ahead during the decisive stages of the encounter.

Despite trailing in the closing minutes, Sri Lanka continued to fight bravely and reduced the margin with some spirited play. The hosts received strong support from the spectators who gathered at the stadium to cheer the young team.

India eventually held their nerve to secure a five-point victory and remain one of the strongest contenders in the tournament. Although Sri Lanka ended on the losing side, the performance of the young players earned praise for their fighting spirit and determination against a formidable opponent.