Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is hopeful of going ahead with their domestic league Lanka Premier League (LPL) as scheduled in August. This decision comes even after the Sri Lankan government continuously postponing the reopening date of the country’s main airport Katunayake from the scheduled date of 1st August.
The country’s sports ministry gave a nod to the apex cricket body to go ahead with the league which is scheduled from August 8 to 22 (tentative). The date had been announced, keeping in mind the reopening of the borders and airports from August 1 by the Sri Lankan government.
“We’re hoping to speak to His Excellency [president Gotabaya Rajapaksa] and see if we can come to a decision,” SLC CEO Ashley de Silva told ESPNcricinfo.
Ashley de Silva also praised the country’s governing body for the way they dealt with the situation in containing the virus, as he stated, “Sri Lanka has done very well in containing the coronavirus as opposed to other countries in the region, and as such we have had a lot of interest from foreign players in taking part in the tournament.”
Five teams will be taking part in the T20 league and SLC will start taking tenders regarding the franchise ownerships shortly. The procedures for this league is similar to the Indian Premier League (IPL), as the selection of the players will be done through an auction process and a maximum six foreign players will only be allowed in a team out of which only four would be a part of the playing XI.
However, a lot will depend on BCCI‘s call for Indian team’s series of Sri Lanka in August as Ashley de Silva said, “At the moment we’re looking at 23 games, but if India agrees to play then it will most probably come down to 13,” de Silva said.
SLC is ready to alter their league as a home series against the Indian team would be a significant boost to their finances after facing back to back losses due to the suspension of several series of the Sri Lankan Cricket team.
