The Lanka Premier League held its inaugural auction on Wednesday evening, with Dilshan Madushanka coming away as the tournament's most expensive signing, when he was bought by Jaffna Kings for US$ 92,000.
While the 22-year-old might not have been the pre-auction pick to land such a lucrative contract, it made sense in the end owing to the unique set of characteristics he provides; left-arm seamers that swing the ball at considerable pace don't come around very often after all. Madushanka had recent form going in his favour as well, picking up nine wickets against a visiting South Africa A side across three 50-over games and then another four in a four-day encounter.
Madushanka was recently omitted from Sri Lanka's World Cup Qualifier squad. His signing was the culmination of a repeating thread throughout the auction, in that franchises seemed more willing to enter into bidding wars for local talent as opposed to those from overseas.
The top-eight most expensive signings were all domestic, with Madushanka heading up a list that included Charith Asalanka ($80,000), Binura Fernando ($76,000), Dhananjaya de Silva ($76,000), Dinesh Chandimal ($72,000), Dushmantha Chameera ($70,000), Sadeera Samarawickrama ($68,000) and Kamindu Mendis ($60,000).
Several overseas picks, such as Sikandar Raza, Imran Tahir, Carlos Brathwaite, who was last season's leading LPL wicket taker, Andre Fletcher, Martin Guptill, and Duanne Olivier went unsold. Chris Lynn was put up for auction twice with no takers, before Jaffna signed him up for $50,000 as the auction went into its last-minute shopping phase.
Little-known New Zealand opener Chad Bowes became the LPL auction's most expensive overseas pick at $58,000 and Pakistan's Mohammad Hasnain ($34,000) was the only other overseas player to spark a bidding war.
All five teams had already locked down their first-choice overseas signings prior to the auction - David Miller (Jaffna), Babar Azam (Colombo Strikers), Mathew Wade (Dambulla Aura), Shakib Al Hasan (Galle Titans), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (B-Love Kandy), Lungi Ndidi (Dambulla), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Jaffna), Farkar Zaman (Kandy), Naseem Shah (Colombo) and Tabraiz Shamsi (Galle) - and there was some uncertainty over player availability given the Global T20 in Canada, which runs from July 20 to August 6, will be clashing directly with the LPL.
A quiet auction for Galle and Colombo
Prior to the auction the teams were informed that they would each be expected to spend a minimum of 85% of their $500,000 purse. Three - Jaffna, Kandy and Dambulla - spent nearly 100% of their funds, but Colombo and Galle fell short of the mandated $425,000.
This in a way informed the player acquisition strategies of the respective sides. The big spenders had clear targets in mind on whom they were willing spurge. But Galle and Colombo only spent more than $50,000 on one player - Bowes (Galle) - and didn't bid for any of the players in the highest price bracket. Colombo's highest purchase was that of Niroshan Dickwella for $44,000, while Galle - aside from Bowes - spent $40,000 each on Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha and the uncapped Lahiru Samarakoon.
It was also interesting to note that both Kandy and Jaffna did not fill up their full allotment of 24 squad positions, instead opting to spread the funds over a smaller group of players - 22 and 21 respectively - thereby ensuring that more often than not their first-choice picks were secured.
Colombo ($98,500) and Galle (93,000) had plenty of cash remaining and might have missed a trick in not going in harder for certain players.
Jaffna, Kandy and Dambulla splurge
Jaffna, the defending champions, focused a large chunk of their purse on their seam-bowling stocks. They have five frontline quicks in their ranks. Some might view this as overkill, but in Madushanka, Pakistan's Zaman Khan ($20,000), Nuwan Thushara ($30,000), Asitha Fernando ($28,000) and South Africa's Hardus Viljoen, they have a well-rounded fast bowling group, one that might have been stronger still had they not been pipped at the post by Kandy for Chameera ($70,000). Add to this the spin pairing of Maheesh Theekshana and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, and Jaffna have a claim for the strongest attack in the league.
B-Love Kandy might yet contest them for that title, bringing together a squad that includes the express pair of Chameera and Hasnain, as well as the spin duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Afghanistan's Mujeeb Ur Rahman. They've also allied experience - Angelo Mathews and Chandimal ($72,000) - with the explosiveness of youth - Mohammad Haris ($20,000), Thanuka Dabare ($10,000) and Sahan Arachchige ($28,000) - to fill out their batting.
As for Dambulla, their strategy revolved around a desire to find talents flying under the radar, acquiring Pakistan seamer Shahnawaz Dahani ($20,000) and uncapped Australian allrounder Hayden Kerr ($20,000). A good chunk of their budget - 30% - though went into securing the middle order, with Samarawickrama and Dhananjaya costing a combined $144,000. This was after they had already secured the services of Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis and Wade pre-draft. Seamer Binura Fernando was their other big ticket signing at $76,000, who will hope to form a formidable partnership with pre-signing Ngidi.
Complete Squads
B-Love Kandy: Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Wanindu Hasaranga, Fakhar Zaman, Angelo Mathews, Isuru Udana, Dinesh Chandimal, Mohammad Hasnain, Dushmantha Chameera, Sahan Arachchige, Ashen Bandara, Mohammad Haris, Navod Paranavithana, Asif Ali, Kamindu Mendis, Nuwan Pradeep, Chaturanga de Silva, Lahiru Madushanka, Aameer Jamal, Malsha Tharupathi, Thanuka Dabare, Lasith Abeyrathne, Avishka Tharindu
Jaffna Kings: David Miller, Thisara Perera, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Maheesh Theekshana, Charith Asalanka, Dunith Wellalage, Shoaib Malik, Pathum Kumara, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Theesan Vithushan, Asanka Manoj, Nishan Madushka, Asitha Fernando, Hardus Viljoen, Nuwan Thushara, Dilshan Madushanka, Zaman Khan, Ashan Randika, Ratnarajah Thenurathan, Chris Lynn, Asela Gunarathne
Dambulla Aura: Mathew Wade, Kusal Mendis, Lungi Ndidi, Avishka Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Janith Perera, Hayden Kerr, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Binura Fernando, Noor Ahmad, Sachitha Jayathilaka, Janith Liyanage, Dushan Hemantha, Pramod Madushan, Shahnawaz Dahani, Lakshan Edirisinghe, Jehan Daniel, Wanuja Sahan, Kavidu Pathirathna, Ravindu Fernando, Alex Ross, Treveen Mathew, Manelker de Silva, Praveen Jayawickrama
Colombo Strikers: Babar Azam, Matheesha Pathirana, Naseem Shah, Chamika Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Niroshan Dickwella, Wahab Riaz, Lakshan Sandakan, Nipun Dananjaya, Movin Subasinghe, Lahiru Udara, Eshan Malinga, Sashika Dulshan, Nuwanidu Fernando, Iftikhar Ahmad, Lorcan Tucker, Jeffrey Vandersay, Angelo Perera, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Kanishka Anjula, Ramesh Mendis, Mohammad Nawaz, Ahan Wickramasinghe, Yashoda Lanka
Galle Titans: Shakib Al Hasan, Dasun Shanaka, Tabraiz Shamsi, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Seekkuge Prasanna, Lahiru Kumara, Lasith Croospulle, Sohan de Livera, Ashan Priyanjan, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Mithun, Minod Bhanuka, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Shevon Daniel, Mohomed Shiraz, Lahiru Samarakoon, Kasun Rajitha, Akila Dananjaya, Chad Bowes, Tim Seifert, Sonal Dinusha, Avishka Perera, Anuk Fernando, Vishwa Fernando