Dambulla Sixers, previously known as Dambulla Aura, Dambulla Giants, Dambulla Viiking, and Dambulla Thunders is a franchise

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

cricket team Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the ...

based in

Dambulla Dambulla ( ''Dam̆bulla'', ''Tampuḷḷai'') is a city situated in the north of Matale District, in Sri Lanka's Central Province. It is the second largest populated and urbanised centre after Matale in the Matale District. It is situated ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, that competes in the

Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional franchise cricket league established in 2020 in Sri Lanka. Matches are played using the Twenty20 cricket format by five teams named after Sri Lankan cities. The league was int ...

(LPL). In June 2021,

Sri Lanka Cricket Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka on 30 June 1975 as a national ...

(SLC) terminated the franchise ahead of the

2021 Lanka Premier League The 2021 Lanka Premier League also known as Wolf777 News LPL T20, for sponsorship reasons, was the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in Sri Lanka. It took place from 5 to 23 December 2021. The ...

, due to financial issues. In September 2021, the team changed their name to Dambulla Giants after changing owners. Then, prior to the 2022 season, Aura Lanka brought the franchise and changed its name to Dambulla Aura.

Franchise history

2020 season

2021 season

2022 season

2023 season

2024 season

In 2024, the team was purchased by Imperial Sports Group, who renamed it Dambulla Thunders. Tamim Rahman, a co-owner of Dambulla Thunders, a British national of Bangladeshi origin, was arrested at the

Bandaranaike International Airport Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) (commonly known as Colombo International Airport, Colombo–Bandaranaike International Airport, and locally as Katunayake International Airport) (IATA airport code, IATA: CMB, ICAO airport code, ICAO: VC ...

a day after the 2024 LPL player auction. The special investigating unit for preventing sports-related offences of the

Ministry of Sports A ministry of sports or ministry of youth and sports is a kind of government Ministry (government department), ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young peopl ...

made the arrest. Following the arrest, LPL terminated its contract with Dambulla Thunders with immediate effect. The IPG Group, the organisers of LPL announced, the fifth edition of the league will continue as planned despite the events related to Dambulla Thunders. IPG further stated that the Dambulla franchise will participate in the league under new ownership. Incidentally, Viranjith Thambugala, chairman of Aura Lanka, the previous owner of Dambulla franchise, was arrested by Sri Lanka Police over allegations of financial fraud on the same day. At last, Dambulla franchise was bought by a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

based engineering consultant firm called Sequoia Consultants. To promote

breast cancer awareness Breast cancer awareness is an effort to raising awareness, raise awareness and reduce the Social stigma, stigma of breast cancer through education about Breast cancer screening, screening, Cancer signs and symptoms, symptoms, and Breast cancer ...

and encourage self-examination, Dambulla Sixers played their match against Galle Marvels on July 14 wearing pink jerseys with a

pink ribbon The pink ribbon is an international symbol of breast cancer awareness. Pink ribbons, and the color pink in general, identify the wearer or promoter with the breast cancer brand and express moral support for people with breast cancer. Pink rib ...

. Inspired by successful campaigns in other cricket-playing nations, the initiative aims to significantly impact cancer awareness in

. Galle Marvels also wore a special jersey that mixed pink with their usual neon green to support their program.

Current squad

* Sources: ''

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

'', ''ThePapare.com'', ''Newswire.com'' * Players with international caps are listed in bold.

Administration and support staff

Captains

''As of 16 July 2024''

Seasons

Statistics

Most runs

*Source:

Highest individual score

*Source:

Most wickets

*Source:

Team identity

Anthem

Kit manufacturers and sponsors

In the inaugural season, Life Bottled Water, Big Brother, Goa King's, Planet Hollywood and Viiking Ventures became as team sponsors while

Swarnavahini Swarnavahini (; literally Golden Channel) is a Sinhala language general entertainment and news television channel in Sri Lanka owned by EAP Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of EAP Holdings. Launched in 1994 as ETV (Extra Terrestrial Vision), ...

, Ran FM,

E FM EFM 88.3 is an English-language radio station in Sri Lanka, offering a mix of music, conversation, and entertainment. The station is known for its eclectic playlists, featuring the best of the 1980s, 1990s, and more, all woven into engaging discu ...

and

Shree FM Sri FM (ශ්‍රී FM) is the first privately owned radio station in Sri Lanka. This radio is broadcast island wide in Sri Lanka on the frequencies 93.2FM, 95.8FM, 98.8FM, 99.0FM and 99.3FM. Shree FM, Ran FM and E FM's Executive Director, i ...

was the media partners. TigerExchange News became the team's main sponsor in the 2022 season. In 2023 season, Babu88 Sports became as the principal sponsor of the Dambulla franchise.

References

{{Lanka Premier League 2020 establishments in Sri Lanka Cricket clubs established in 2020 Lanka Premier League teams Dambulla Aura