Vijay Shankar joins Kandy Royals in Lanka Premier League after IPL and domestic retirement

Former India all-rounder Vijay Shankar has signed with Kandy Royals ahead of the sixth season of the Lanka Premier League, days after announcing his retirement from Indian domestic cricket and the IPL. The 35-year-old is among the biggest overseas names confirmed ahead of the player draft on June 1, in the next phase of his career.

After withdrawing from the Indian domestic circuit and the IPLShankar remains eligible to play overseas franchise cricket and has made the switch to a Kandy side that has already put together a strong core ahead of the tournament. Kandy Royals also signed Waninda Hasaranga, Angelo Mathews and Moeen Ali as part of their marquee pre-draft.

Tournament rules allowed teams to sign a maximum of two overseas players along with two Sri Lankan marquee names before the main auction process. This framework shaped the early build-up, with Kandy quickly looking to bring in Shankar as one of their overseas additions before the wider player pool comes into play.

The former Tamil Nadu cricketer represented India in 12 ODIs and nine T20Is and was part of the squad for the 2019 ODI World Cup in England. His last appearance for India also came during this tournament. While his international career was brief, Shankar remained a constant presence in domestic cricket and franchise leagues due to his ability to contribute with both bat and ball. During his domestic career, he played 77 first-class matches, scored 4,253 runs and took 43 wickets. He appeared in 78 matches in the IPL and featured for the likes of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings.

Shankar now joins a growing list of Indian cricketers who have retired from domestic cricket to pursue overseas T20 leagues, with Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik following similar paths in recent years. The Lanka Premier League will run from July 17 to August 8 and will feature five teams – Kandy Royals, Dambulla Sixers, Jaffna Kings, Galle Marvels and Colombo Strikers – with over 650 overseas players registered in the draft pool.

Defending champions Jaffna Kings signed Shakib Al Hasan, Dunitha Wellalage and Bhanuka Rajapaksa ahead of the draft, while Dambulla Sixers added Reeza Hendricks, Dinesh Chandimal, Dushmanth Chameer and Sahibzad Farhan to their marquee squad. For Shankar, the move to Kandy marks a clear break from the Indian domestic system, but not from the franchise game.

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Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

26 May 2026 19:37 IST