The Lanka Premier League (LPL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Sri Lanka. The league was founded in 2017 and is currently in its fifth season. The LPL is played between five teams, each of which consists of a squad of 15 players.

LPL 2023 Draft: A Breakdown of the Top Picks

The LPL Drafting 2023 took place on June 14, 2023, at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo. The draft was conducted by Charu Sharma, who is also the auctioneer for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

A total of 360 players were registered for the draft, including international stars like Babar Azam, Rassie van der Dussen, and Fakhar Zaman. The players were divided into four categories:

  • Category A: Players who have played in at least 100 international matches.
  • Category B: Players who have played in at least 50 international matches.
  • Category C: Players who have played in at least 25 international matches.
  • Category D: Uncapped players.

Each team was allowed to retain up to four players from their previous season's squad. The remaining players were then available for selection in the draft.

The draft was conducted in two rounds. In the first round, each team was allowed to select two players from Category A. In the second round, each team was allowed to select one player from each of the remaining categories.

The following are the top five picks in the LPL Drafting 2023:

  • Babar Azam (Colombo Strikers): Category A
    Babar Azam, Pakistan cricket BatsmanOpens in a new windowGeo.tv
  • Rassie van der Dussen (Dambulla Aura): Category A
    Rassie van der Dussen, South Africa cricket BatsmanOpens in a new windowESPNcricinfo
  • Fakhar Zaman (Kandy Falcons): Category A
    Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan cricket BatsmanOpens in a new windowSportsUnfold
  • Matthew Wade (Dambulla Aura): Category B
    Matthew Wade, Australia cricket BatsmanOpens in a new windowHindustan Times
  • Kusal Mendis (Dambulla Aura): Category B
    Kusal Mendis, Sri Lanka cricket BatsmanOpens in a new windowTimes of India

The LPL Drafting 2023 was a successful event, and it helped to create a lot of excitement for the upcoming season. The teams have now assembled their squads, and they will be looking to start the season on a strong note.

Here is a table of the full squads for the 2023 LPL:

TeamCaptainCategory A PlayersCategory B PlayersCategory C PlayersCategory D Players
Colombo StrikersBabar AzamWanindu HasarangaPathum NissankaDhananjaya LakshanAhan Wickramasinghe
Dambulla AuraMatthew WadeKusal MendisLungi NgidiAvishka FernandoNiroshan Dickwella
Jaffna KingsMaheesh TheekshanaDavid MillerThisara PereraRahmanullah GurbazSachitha Jayathilake
Kandy FalconsWanindu HasarangaFakhar ZamanAngelo MathewsMujeeb Ur RahmanJehan Daniel
Galle GladiatorsBhanuka RajapaksaDasun ShanakaShakib Al HasanTabraiz ShamsiKavishka Anjula

The 2023 LPL is scheduled to start on July 31, 2023, and will conclude on August 22, 2023. The tournament will be played in a double round-robin format, followed by the playoffs.