The Kandy Tuskers (abbreviated as KT) is a franchise cricket team which competed in inaugural season of Lanka Premier League in 2020. The team is based in Kandy, Central Province, Sri Lanka, and owned by Bollywood actor Sohail Khan. In the 2020 season, the team was under the captaincy of Kusal Perera and coached by Hashan Tillakaratne.
The team was eliminated in the inaugural season of the LPL after winning two out of eight matches. They were disqualified due to having a lower run rate than the qualifier, Galle Gladiators, which had the same winning streak.
Season summary In the inaugural match of the Lanka Premier League, the Colombo Kings beat the Tuskers in a super over. In their 20 overs, the Tuskers scored 219/3. This was largely due to their captain Kusal Mendis, who scored 87 runs off 52 balls. While in the super over, the Tuskers scored 12/0 in reply to 16/1 by the Kings. On 28 November 2020, the Tuskers lost their second successive match by four runs, this time to the Dambulla Viiking, as the DLS method was used due to rain.
In their third match, they defeated Galle Gladiators by 25 runs to log their first win of the season. They won despite 82 runs off 53 balls from the Gladiators opener Danushka Gunathilaka, as the Gladiators scored 171/7 in response to Kandy's 196/5. In their fourth game, the Tuskers were all out for 131 runs in response to the Jaffna Stallions' 185/8, losing the game by 54 runs.
In the Tuskers' fifth game of the season, against the Viiking, they got off to a good start. This was largely due to their captain Mendis, who scored 55 runs. However, the Tuskers still lost this game by five wickets. Yet again in their sixth game of the season, against the Colombo Kings, the Tuskers' batting failed them. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the highest scorer for the Tuskers, scoring 34 runs off 21 balls. In response, the Kings reached their target inside 15 overs, winning by seven wickets and giving the Tuskers their third consecutive loss. This also sent the Kings into the semi-finals.
In their seventh game of the season, the Tuskers defeated the Jaffna Stallions by six runs. Their eighth match, against the Galle Gladiators, was a virtual quarter-final, with the winner advancing to the semi-final. The Tuskers' batting failed again, as the only batsman to pass 50 runs was their captain Mendis, who scored 68 runs of the Tuskers' total of 128 runs. The Tuskers bowlers could not replicate the Gladiators bowlers either, as they took only one wicket in the Gladiators' successful chase of 130/1. This meant that the Kandy Tuskers finished last on the inaugural Lanka Premier League table.
Squad Players with international caps are listed in bold Ages given as of 26 November 2020, the date the first match was played in the tournament No. Name Nationality Date of birth (age) Batting style Bowling style Notes Batsmen 49 Priyamal Perera Left-handed — N/A Nishan Madushka Right-handed — All-rounders 41 Seekkuge Prasanna Right-handed Right-arm legbreak 14 Asela Gunaratne Right-handed Right-arm medium 84 Kamindu Mendis Left-handed Right-arm offbreak, slow left-arm orthodox 47 Dilruwan Perera Right-handed Right arm off spin 333 Chris Gayle Left-handed Right-arm offbreak Overseas marquee player N/A Irfan Pathan Left-handed Left-arm medium fast Overseas 33 Sohail Tanvir Left-handed Left-arm medium-fast Overseas 73 Lahiru Samarakoon Left-handed Right-arm fast-medium 11 Ishan Jayaratne Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Wicket-keepers 153 Kusal Perera Left-handed Left-arm medium Captain, Icon player 2 Kusal Mendis Right-handed Right-arm leg spin 100 Rahmanullah Gurbaz Right-handed — Overseas 22 Brendan Taylor Right-handed Right-arm offbreak Overseas Bowlers 63 Nuwan Pradeep Right-handed Right-arm fast 96 Lasith Embuldeniya Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 68 Vishwa Fernando Right-handed Left-arm fast-medium 17 Liam Plunkett Right-handed Right-arm fast Overseas 47 Wahab Riaz Right-handed Left-arm fast Overseas 88 Naveen-ul-Haq Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast Overseas N/A Munaf Patel Right-handed Right-arm medium fast Overseas 8 Dale Steyn Right-handed Right-arm fast Overseas N/A Chamikara Edirisinghe Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox N/A Kavishka Anjula Left-handed Right-arm medium-fast 36 Kevin Koththigoda Left-handed Right-arm leg-break
Sources
Administration and support staff The team is owned by the Bollywood actor Sohail Khan, the brother of Salman Khan. It is also co-owned by Abbas Muni. Hashan Tillakaratne was appointed as the head coach, while the team manager was Farveez Maharoof. Nuvan Kulasekara and Lanka De Silva were bowling and fielding coaches for the season, respectively.
Season standings League table
Matches + denotes the winning team+ denotes the losing team Date Opponent Toss Result Player of the match Notes 26 November Colombo Kings Colombo Kings elected to field. Colombo Kings won by 5 runs. Dinesh Chandimal Won in super over. 28 NovemberDambulla Viiking Kandy Tuskers elected to field. Dambulla Viiking won by 4 runs. Dasun Shanaka Won by DLS method. 30 NovemberGalle Gladiators Galle Gladiators elected to field. Kandy Tuskers won by 25 runs. Brendan Taylor 1 December Jaffna Stallions Jaffna Stallions elected to bat. Jaffna Stallions won by 54 runs. Thisara Perera 3 December Dambulla Viiking Kandy Tuskers elected to bat. Dambulla Viiking won by 5 wickets. Angelo Perera 5 DecemberColombo Kings Kandy Tuskers elected to bat. Colombo Kings won by 7 wickets. Dushmantha Chameera 9 DecemberJaffna Stallions Jaffna Stallions elected to bat. Kandy Tuskers won by 6 wickets. Asela Gunaratne 10 December Galle Gladiators Kandy Tuskers elected to field. Galle Gladiators won by 9 wickets. Danushka Gunathilaka
Statistics Most runs The top scorer of Kandy Tuskers was Kusal Mendis, who scored 263 runs in eight matches, followed by the captain Kusal Perera, who scored 209 runs. The third and fourth position were attained by Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Asela Gunaratne. + * indicates a player who remained not out. Batsman Matches Runs Highest scoreKusal Mendis 8 263 68Kusal Perera 8 209 87Rahmanullah Gurbaz 8 169 53Asela Gunaratne 8 168 52*Brendan Taylor 6 144 51*
Most wickets The most wickets were taken by Gunaratne, who took nine wickets in eight matches. He was followed by Afghan cricketer Naveen-ul-Haq, who took eight wickets. Vishwa Fernando and Seekkuge Prasanna both took three wickets, respectively. + Notation 2/20 denotes 2 wickets obtained by 20 runs. Bowler Matches Wickets Best bowlingAsela Gunaratne 8 9 2/20Naveen-ul-Haq 5 8 3/44Nuwan Pradeep 8 8 3/36Vishwa Fernando 3 3 2/29Seekkuge Prasanna 7 3 1/6
Awards and achievements Date Award Player Opponent Result Contribution Ref. 30 NovemberMan of the Match Brendan Taylor Galle Gladiators Won by 25 runs. 51* 9 December Asela Gunaratne Jaffna Stallions Won by 6 wickets. 52*
References