Faf du Plessis to make first appearance in LPL

Former South African captain Faf du

Plessis will make his first appearance in the 2nd edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), it is confirmed.

According to highly placed sources in the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board, he is set to play for the defending champion Jaffna Kings team, formerly known as Jaffna Stallions.

Interestingly, the 37-year-old middleorder batsman recently played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final and won the

Player of the Match award for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

“Faf has not been hired after the IPL final. He was in negotiations with the authorities much earlier but the clearance and confirmation were received on the day when he was adjudged the Player of the Match award for his 86 runs, which included seven fours and three sixes,” one of the sources, speaking exclusively over the telephone from Colombo, said yesterday.“faf, who is not a member of the South Africa World Cup team, will be the first overseas icon of the franchise team.” Authorities have asked all participating teams to decide on pre-draft players and the list of the last year retained players. Jaffna team owners are likely to retain captain Thisara Perera and coach Thilina Kandamby. The team is likely to have few Pakistani players on the overseas lists.

“We are keen to retain Shoaib Malik, who has now been added to the Pakistan squad for the T20 World Cup. His performance was good last year also,” the source attached with the management, added. Jaffna Kings are also likely to retain other local players including Wanindu Hasaranga.