Jaffna Kings are the defending LPL champions. They are also, in the considered view of most pundits, favourites to win again in 2026 — a status the franchise insists they neither sought nor particularly want.
"Favourite is a label. It doesn't win matches. We won last year because we executed under pressure. That doesn't change because someone wrote our name first." — Avishka Fernando, captain
I spent four days at the Kings' pre-season camp in Vavuniya in late May. What's striking is how little has changed.
Continuity as strategy
Of the 14-man squad announced for 2026, eleven were part of the 2025 winning campaign. The three new faces — Sadeera Samarawickrama, Lahiru Kumara, and overseas all-rounder Marco Jansen — are replacements for retirees and one franchise transfer rather than wholesale changes.
This is the most settled squad in the competition. Head coach Tom Moody is clear about why:
"Continuity is a tactical choice. The hardest thing in a four-week tournament is alignment — alignment on tactics, alignment on plans for specific opposition batters, alignment on body language. We chose to bank a year of that."
What could go wrong
The thinness of the seam-bowling reserves is the one structural concern. If Dushmantha Chameera's left knee — the subject of off-season surgery — does not hold up across 12-plus matches, the Kings will be stretched.
Beyond that, the question for Moody's side is whether the hunger that drove a one-point title last year survives a season in which they enter as the team to beat. The captain's answer was characteristically dry:
"Ask me in August."
