Sri Lanka Cricket reschedules the Lanka Premier League in November

The first edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), which was slated to begin from August 28, with the final to take place on September 20, has now been postponed to the month of November. Sri Lanka Cricket has now decided to host the league from November 14 to December 6.

Owing to the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus in the world, the Sri Lankan Government has applied incredibly strict quarantine rules in the country. SLC wants the government to reduce the quarantine period for the players arriving in Lanka for this tournament from 14 days to 7 days. However, the government is yet to give permission regarding this and that forced the authorities for the postponement of the LPL.

“We’re speaking with the health authorities and the government about this, and hope to have an answer by the end of this week,” SLC vice-president Ravin Wickramaratne told ESPNcricinfo.

Three venues for LPL have been finalized

As per the Sri Lanka’s cricket board schedule, the tournament will feature 23 matches with 93 international cricketers available for auction. Also, the tournament will be played across three venues namely Sooriyawewa, Pallekele and Dambulla, with the semi-finals and final to be played in Pallekele. The Capital city, Colombo will not host any match as it’s Khettarama stadium is still undergoing renovation.

Five teams are expected to take part in the T20 league which have been named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna. The Gladiators (Galle) has also found investors in the form of a Pakistan-based company. The other four franchises are yet to find their franchisees as all the potential investors are being thoroughly vetted by the Innovative Production Group (IPG), a Dubai-based Sports broadcasting company which has acquired total rights of the LPL for the next five years by paying USD two million annually.

There can be one hurdle in the SLC’s supposed schedule for the Lanka Premier League. The tournament is expected to clash with the northeast monsoon season which brings significant rainfall in all the three suggested venues. Though the matches can be disturbed by the presence of rain, it has been observed that over the years SLC has improved its ground-management system which has made it possible to host cricket tours during this period.