# Jaffna Kings in 2021

The Jaffna Kings (often abbreviated as JK) is a franchise cricket team which competes in 2021 Lanka Premier League (LPL). The team is based in Jaffna, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. In September 2021, Jaffna Stallions changed their name to Jaffna Kings having new owners (Lyca Group). The team was captained by Thisara Perera and coached by Thilina Kandamby. They were defending champions having won LPL 2020. In the final, they beat Galle Gladiators by 23 runs to win their second successive LPL title.

## Squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold
* Ages given as of 5 December 2021, the date the first match of the tournament was played
| No. | Name | Nationality | Date of birth (age) | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
| Batsman |||||||
| 28 | Avishka Fernando | Sri Lanka | (1998-04-05)5 April 1998 (aged 23) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | |
| 18 | Shoaib Malik | Pakistan | (1982-02-01)1 February 1982 (aged 39) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Overseas player |
| 44 | Upul Tharanga | Sri Lanka | (1985-02-02)2 February 1985 (aged 36) | Left- handed | – | |
| 32 | Tom Kohler-Cadmore | England | (1994-08-19)19 August 1994 (aged 27) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Overseas player |
| 10 | Ashen Bandara | Sri Lanka | (1998-11-23)23 November 1998 (aged 23) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
| 45 | Ashan Randika | Sri Lanka | (1993-11-15)15 November 1993 (aged 28) | Left- handed | Right-arm medium | |
| N/A | Shammu Ashan | Sri Lanka | (1998-01-09)9 January 1998 (aged 23) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| All-rounders |||||||
| 1 | Thisara Perera | Sri Lanka | (1989-04-03)3 April 1989 (aged 32) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | Captain |
| 49 | Wanindu Hasaranga | Sri Lanka | (1997-07-29)29 July 1997 (aged 24) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
| 20 | Chaturanga de Silva | Sri Lanka | (1990-01-17)17 January 1990 (aged 31) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | |
| N/A | Theivendiram Dinoshan | Sri Lanka | 26 March 2002 (aged 19) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | |
| N/A | Rathnaraja Thanuradan | Sri Lanka | | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||
| 21 | Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Afghanistan | (2001-11-28)28 November 2001 (aged 20) | Right-handed | – | Overseas player |
| N/A | Krishan Sanjula | Sri Lanka | (1998-09-30)30 September 1998 (aged 23) | Right-handed | – | |
| Spin Bowlers |||||||
| 21 | Maheesh Theekshana | Sri Lanka | (2000-08-01)1 August 2000 (aged 21) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
| 12 | Praveen Jayawickrama | Sri Lanka | (1998-09-30)30 September 1998 (aged 23) | Right-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | |
| 55 | Vijayakanth Viyaskanth | Sri Lanka | (2001-12-05)5 December 2001 (aged 20) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
| Pace Bowlers |||||||
| 47 | Wahab Riaz | Pakistan | (1985-06-28)28 June 1985 (aged 36) | Right-handed | Left-arm fast | Overseas player |
| 56 | Usman Shinwari | Pakistan | (1994-01-05)5 January 1994 (aged 27) | Right-handed | Left-arm fast medium | Overseas player |
| 82 | Suranga Lakmal | Sri Lanka | (1987-03-10)10 March 1987 (aged 34) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast medium | |
| 33 | Jayden Seales | West Indies | (2001-09-10)10 September 2001 (aged 20) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | Overseas player |
| N/A | Chamika Gunasekara | Sri Lanka | (1999-11-25)25 November 1999 (aged 22) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | |

## Season standings
### Points table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR |
| 1 | Jaffna Kings (C) | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 2.210 |
| 2 | Galle Gladiators (R) | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 0.143 |
| 3 | Colombo Stars (4th) | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | −0.571 |
| 4 | Dambulla Giants (3rd) | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 7 | −1.003 |
| 5 | Kandy Warriors | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | −0.668 |
* The top four teams qualified for the playoffs
* Advanced to Qualifier 1
* Advanced to Eliminator

## League stage

* Match 1 5 December 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Galle Gladiators 164/7 (20 overs) | v | Jaffna Kings 110 (18.2 overs) |
| Bhanuka Rajapaksa 56 (31) Jayden Seales 3/23 (4 overs) | | Wahab Riaz 27 (20) Samit Patel 3/21 (4 overs) |
* Gale Gladiators won by 54 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena and Ruchira Palliyaguruge Player of the match: Samit Patel (Galle Gladiators)
* Jaffna Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 4 7 December 2021 15:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Dambulla Giants 110 (19.3 overs) | v | Jaffna Kings 114/2 (12.3 overs) |
| Nuwanidu Fernando 23 (25) Wanindu Hasaranga 3/16 (4 overs) | | Tom Kohler-Cadmore 45* (30) Imran Tahir 1/20 (4 overs) |
* Jaffna Kings won by 8 wickets R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena and Ravindra Kottahachchi Player of the match: Maheesh Theekshana (Jaffna Kings)
* Dambulla Giants won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 7 8 December 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Jaffna Kings 181/6 (14 overs) | v | Kandy Warriors 166/5 (14 overs) |
| Thisara Perera 53 (21) Shiraz Ahmed 3/22 (3 overs) | | Rovman Powell 61 (19) Jayden Seales 2/40 (3 overs) |
* Jaffna Kings won by 14 runs (DLS method) R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Umpires: Asanga Jayasooriya and Prageeth Rambukwella Player of the match: Suranga Lakmal (Jaffna Kings)
* Kandy Warriors won the toss and elected to field.
* Rain stopped play during Jaffna Kings innings. Kandy Warriors were set a revised target of 181 runs from 14 overs.
* Shiraz Ahmed (Kandy Warriors) made his T20 debut.
* Match 9 10 December 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Jaffna Kings 207/6 (18 overs) | v | Colombo Stars 114 (15.5 overs) |
| Thisara Perera 57* (23) Seekkuge Prasanna 3/31 (4 overs) | | Ashan Priyanjan 35 (25) Maheesh Theekshana 4/25 (4 overs) |
* Jaffna Kings won by 93 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Umpires: Deepal Gunawardene and Ruchira Palliyaguruge Player of the match: Thisara Perera (Jaffna Kings)
* Colombo Stars won the toss and elected to field.
* The match was reduced to 18 overs per side due to rain.
* Match 12 12 December 2021 15:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Kandy Warriors 94/2 (12.2 overs) | v | Jaffna Kings 95/3 (8.4 overs) |
| Charith Asalanka 44* (34) Shoaib Malik 1/19 (3 overs) | | Thisara Perera 29* (13) Binura Fernando 1/15 (1.4 overs) |
* Jaffna Kings won by 7 wickets (DLS method) R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Umpires: Lyndon Hannibal and Rohitha Kottahachchi Player of the match: Shoaib Malik (Jaffna Kings)
* Jaffna Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* Rain stopped play during Kandy Warriors innings. Jaffna Kings were set a revised target of 95 runs from 10 overs.
* Match 14 13 December 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Dambulla Giants 69 (14.1 overs) | v | Jaffna Kings 71/3 (9.2 overs) |
| Phil Salt 23 (22) Chaturanga de Silva 4/16 (4 overs) | | Wanindu Hasaranga 37 (18) Imran Tahir 2/21 (4 overs) |
* Jaffna Kings won by 7 wickets R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Umpires: Keerthi Bandara and Raveendra Wimalasiri Player of the match: Chaturanga de Silva (Jaffna Kings)
* Jaffna Kings won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 17 16 December 2021 15:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Jaffna Kings 193/5 (20 overs) | v | Colombo Stars 91 (15.5 overs) |
| Tom Kohler-Cadmore 92 (55) Naveen-ul-Haq 3/27 (4 overs) | | Tom Banton 30 (33) Jayden Seales 4/13 (2.5 overs) |
* Jaffna Kings won by 102 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Umpires: Hemantha Boteju and Prageeth Rambukwella Player of the match: Tom Kohler-Cadmore (Jaffna Kings)
* Jaffna Kings won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 19 17 December 2021 15:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Galle Gladiators 129/8 (20 overs) | v | Jaffna Kings 109 (18.3 overs) |
| Bhanuka Rajapaksa 23 (25) Praveen Jayawickrama 2/13 (3 overs) | | Shoaib Malik 23 (27) Noor Ahmad 2/12 (4 overs) |
* Galle Gladiators won by 20 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Umpires: Asanga Jayasooriya and Prageeth Rambukwella Player of the match: Bhanuka Rajapaksa (Galle Gladiators)
* Galle Gladiators won the toss and elected to bat.

## Playoffs
### Qualifier 1

* Match 22 19 December 2021 20:30 (N) Scorecard
| Galle Gladiators 188/5 (20 overs) | v | Jaffna Kings 124 (16.5 overs) |
| Kusal Mendis 85 (53) Thisara Perera 2/36 (4 overs) | | Rahmanullah Gurbaz 59 (37) Nuwan Thushara 5/13 (3.5 overs) |
* Galle Gladiators won by 64 Runs Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota Umpires: Ruchira Palliyaguruge and Prageeth Rambukwella Player of the match: Kusal Mendis (Galle Gladiators)
* Jaffna Kings won the toss and elected to field.

### Qualifier 2

* Match 23 21 December 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Jaffna Kings 210/4 (20 overs) | v | Dambulla Giants 187/9 (20 overs) |
| Avishka Fernando 100 (64) Lahiru Samarakoon 2/30 (2 overs) | | Chamika Karunaratne 75* (47) Jayden Seales 3/24 (4 overs) |
* Jaffna Kings won by 23 runs Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota Umpires: Lyndon Hannibal and Prageeth Rambukwella Player of the match: Avishka Fernando (Jaffna Kings)
* Dambulla Giants won the toss and elected to field.
* Avishka Fernando (Jaffna Kings) scored his first century in Twenty20 cricket.

### Final

* Match 24 23 December 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Jaffna Kings 201/3 (20 overs) | v | Galle Gladiators 178/9 (20 overs) |
| Avishka Fernando 63 (41) Samit Patel 1/32 (4 overs) | | Danushka Gunathilaka 54 (21) Chaturanga de Silva 2/15 (3 overs) |
* Jaffna Kings won by 23 runs Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota Umpires: Lyndon Hannibal and Raveendra Wimalasiri Player of the match: Avishka Fernando (Jaffna Kings)
* Jaffna Kings won the toss and elected to bat.

## Statistics
### Most runs

| Player | Matches | Runs | High score |
| Avishka Fernando | 10 | 312 | 100 |
| Tom Kohler-Cadmore | 11 | 296 | 92 |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | 8 | 207 | 70 |
| Thisara Perera | 11 | 190 | 57* |
| Shoaib Malik | 10 | 164 | 44 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo

### Most wickets

| Player | Matches | Wickets | Best bowling |
| Maheesh Theekshana | 10 | 16 | 4/25 |
| Jayden Seales | 7 | 15 | 4/13 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 10 | 11 | 3/16 |
| Wahab Riaz | 5 | 9 | 4/26 |
| Chaturanga de Silva | 9 | 7 | 4/16 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo