The Galle Gladiators (abbreviated as GG) is a franchise cricket team which played in the inaugural season of the Lanka Premier League. The team is based in Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. The team remained under the captaincy of Pakistani cricketer, Shahid Afridi, for the first three matches. However, due to an emergency, the captain left the league for the remaining matches of the tournament, and Bhanuka Rajapaksa assumed the captaincy. The team was coached by Pakistani cricket coach Moin Khan. The team is owned by Pakistani organizer Nadeem Omar, who also owns the Pakistan Super League's Quetta Gladiators.
The team qualified for the semi-finals in the 2020 season after winning only two out of eight matches, due to having a higher run rate than its competitor, Kandy Tuskers. The team qualified for the final after trouncing Colombo Kings in the semi-finals. However, they lost in the final to the Jaffna Stallions.
Season summary In the Galle Gladiators' first-ever LPL match, they played against the Jaffna Stallions. They won the toss and elected to bat first. However, they did not accomplish much besides 58 runs off 23 balls from their captain Shahid Afridi. Stallions won by 8 wickets. Rain affected the second game against the Colombo Kings, with the match being reduced to 5 overs per side. At the end, the Kings batted as Andre Russell hit an unbeaten 65 runs to help the Kings win by 34 runs over the Gladiators.
In the third game of their campaign, the Gladiators came up against the Kandy Tuskers. They conceded 196/5 to the Tuskers batsman, but apart from 82 runs off 53 balls from Danushka Gunathilaka, the Gladiators lost this match. In their fourth game, against the Stallions, the Gladiators' batting once again collapsed, aside from another 50 runs by Gunathilaka. The Gladiators' bowling did not fare much better, as they allowed the Stallions to chase the target.
Their fifth game, against the Dambulla Viiking, was a much closer affair. Gunathilaka hit his third fifty in a row and he was well-supported by wicket-keeper batsman Azam Khan, who also hit a fifty. However, the Gladiators lost the game by nine runs. In their sixth game, the Gladiators fared much better, bowling the Colombo Kings out for 170 runs. This was largely due to Pakistani pacer Mohammad Amir, who took five wickets conceding 26 runs, taking the LPL's first-ever 5 wickets in the process. The Gladiators chased this total down to give them their first win of the season.
The Gladiators came into the seventh game facing the Dambulla Viiking. Samiullah Shinwari's 46 runs off 20 balls helped the Viikings chase down the target of 168 runs. The Gladiator's eighth match, against the Kandy Tuskers, was a virtual quarter-final, with the winner going into the semi-final and the loser going out. Gunathilaka once again was the man with the bat for Galle, as he hit an unbeaten 94 runs to help the Gladiators chase down the target of 126 runs and qualify for the semi-final. This meant the Gladiators finished in fourth place on the table.
The Gladiators opposed Colombo Kings in the semi-final. They were impeccable with the bowling: the pace trio of Mohammad Amir, Nuwan Thushara, and Dhananjaya Lakshan gave away just 80 runs, in 12 overs, picking up 4 wickets. However, with the batting, the Gladiators had enough opportunity to steal the win from Kings. When the game reached its final over, the Gladiators needed 15 off 6 balls. Lakshan struck two sixes, and later Lakshan Sandakan concluded the game by striking a four, giving the Gladiators the win, and they advanced to the final.
The team opposed Jaffna Stallions in the 2020 LPL Final. Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik thumped 46 runs off 35 balls and the Stallions set the target of 189 runs. The Gladiators' performance deteriorated, however, as skipper Lakshan hammered 40 off 17 balls, and Pakistani cricketer Azam Khan scored 36 runs off 17 balls. The tournament ended with the Stallions winning the inaugural Lanka Premier League trophy after recording a comprehensive 53-run win over the Gladiators.
Squad Players with international caps are listed in bold Ages given as of 26 November 2020, the date the first match in the tournament was played No. Name Nationality Date of birth (age) Batting style Bowling style Notes Batsmen 70 Danushka Gunathilaka Left-handed Right-arm offbreak 25 Bhanuka Rajapaksa Left-handed Right-arm medium-fast Vice Captain 41 Colin Ingram Left-handed Right-arm legspin Overseas 3 Hazratullah Zazai Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox Overseas 93 Ahsan Ali Right-handed Right-arm leg break Overseas N/A Sahan Arachchige Left-handed Right-arm offbreak All-rounders 34 Shehan Jayasuriya Left-handed Right-arm offbreak 4 Milinda Siriwardana Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 10 Akila Dananjaya Left-handed 10 Shahid Afridi Right-handed Right-arm legspin Captain, Overseas marquee player N/A Chanaka Ruwansiri Right-handed Right-arm offbreak 17 Dhananjaya Lakshan Left-handed Right-arm N/A Duvindu Tillakaratne Right-handed Left-arm orthodox Wicket-keepers 54 Sarfaraz Ahmed Right-handed Right-arm offbreak Overseas 59 Chadwick Walton Right-handed — Overseas 45 Azam Khan Right-handed — Overseas Bowlers 99 Lasith Malinga Right-handed Right-arm fast Icon player 85 Lakshan Sandakan Right-handed Left-arm wrist-spin 78 Asitha Fernando Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 5 Mohammad Amir Left-handed Left-arm fast Overseas 58 Waqas Maqsood Right-handed Left-arm medium fast Overseas N/A Mohamed Shiraz Right-handed Right-arm fast 4 Nuwan Thushara Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 23 Abdul Nasir Right-handed Right-arm offbreak Overseas Sources
Administration and support staff Galle Gladiators is owned by Pakistani organizer Nadeem Omar, who also owns the Pakistan Super League's team Quetta Gladiators. Former Pakistani cricketer Zaheer Abbas was appointed as the team's chairman for the season. The team was coached by Pakistani cricketer Moin Khan, and Upul Chandana was assistant coach. Pakistani cricketers Wasim Akram and Azam Khan were the team mentor and manager, respectively. Position Name Ref. Chairman Zaheer Abbas Head coach Moin Khan Assistant coach Upul Chandana Mentor Wasim Akram Manager Azam Khan
Season standings League table
Matches + denotes the winning team.+ denotes the losing team. Date Opponent Toss Result MotM Notes 27 NovemberJaffna Stallions Galle Gladiators elected to bat Jaffna Stallions won by 8 wickets Avishka Fernando 28 NovemberColombo Kings Galle Gladiators elected to field Colombo Kings won by 34 runs Andre Russell 30 NovemberKandy Tuskers Galle Gladiators elected to field Kandy Tuskers won by 25 runs Brendan Taylor 3 DecemberJaffna Stallions Galle Gladiators elected to bat Jaffna Stallions won by 5 wickets Avishka Fernando 5 DecemberDambulla Viiking Dambulla Viiking elected to bat Dambulla Viiking won by 9 runs Anwar Ali 7 DecemberColombo Kings Colombo Kings elected to bat Galle Gladiators won by 8 wickets Mohammad Amir 9 DecemberDambulla Viiking Dambulla Viiking elected to field Dambulla Viiking won by 4 wickets Samiullah Shinwari 10 DecemberKandy Tuskers Galle Gladiators elected to field Galle Gladiators won by 9 wickets Danushka Gunathilaka 13 DecemberColombo Kings Galle Gladiators elected to field Galle Gladiators won by 2 wickets Dhananjaya Lakshan Won the semi–final 16 DecemberJaffna Stallions Jaffna Stallions elected to bat Jaffna Stallions won by 53 runs Shoaib Malik Lost the final
Statistics Most runs The top scorer of Galle Gladiators was Danushka Gunathilaka, who also scored the most runs in 2020 season of LPL than any other team batsman, though the team won only 3 matches. Azam Khan was the second top scorer who made 215 runs. The third and fourth positions were taken by Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Shehan Jayasuriya, respectively. Like the second position, the fifth position was taken by Pakistani cricketer Ahsan Ali, who scored 117 matches in 7 matches. + * indicates a player who remained not out. Batsman Matches Runs Highest score Danushka Gunathilaka 10 476 94* Azam Khan 10 215 55 Bhanuka Rajapaksa 10 180 40 Shehan Jayasuriya 10 119 39 Ahsan Ali 7 117 56
Most wickets Dhananjaya Lakshan took 13 wickets in 8 matches, placing second in the season's for most wickets. Lakshan Sandakan took 12 wickets. The only fifer of the season was taken by Mohammad Amir, a Pakistani bowler. + Notation 5/26 denotes 5 wickets obtained by 26 runs. Bowler Matches Wickets Best bowling Dhananjaya Lakshan 8 13 3/36 Lakshan Sandakan 8 12 3/32 Mohammad Amir 10 11 5/26 Sahan Arachchige 5 4 2/24 Shehan Jayasuriya 10 4 1/0
Awards and achievements Galle Gladiators won only three matches in the season, therefore three man of the match awards were given to the team players. The first award was given to Mohammad Amir for taking the only fifer in 2020 LPL against Colombo Kings. Danushka Gunathilaka also got an award for making 94 runs in a single inning. The third award was given to Dhananjaya Lakshan. Date Award Player Opponent Result Contribution Ref. 7 DecemberMan of the Match Mohammad Amir Colombo Kings Won by 8 wickets 5 10 December Danushka Gunathilaka Kandy Tuskers Won by 9 wickets 94* 14 December Dhananjaya Lakshan Colombo Kings Won by 2 wickets 31*
References