Wikipedia - Lanka Premier League
The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; Sinhala: ලංකා ප්රිමියර් ලීග්, Tamil: லங்கா பிரீமியர் லீக்) 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 intended to commence in 2018, but repeatedly postponed by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The inaugural edition took place in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of 2023, there have been four seasons of the tournament. The current title holder team is B-Love Kandy, who won the 2023 Lanka Premier League by defeating Dambulla Aura in the final.
History
The first season of the league was initially planned to be held from 18 August to 10 September 2018, but this was postponed multiple times due to administrative issues within Sri Lanka Cricket. In June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, SLC announced the tournament would start on 28 August 2020, with 70 overseas players showing an interest in playing in the league. In August 2020, Ravin Wickramaratne, the Vice President of SLC was officially appointed as the director of the tournament. After being rescheduled due to pandemic related restrictions, the first season began on 26 November 2020.
In May 2022, Samantha Dodanwala was officially appointed as the LPL tournament director. The third edition was scheduled to take place in August 2022, but due to the ongoing Sri Lankan economic crisis and the resultant 2022 Sri Lankan protests, was postponed despite the player draft having already been held.
Fiecare echipă joacă 8 meciuri în faza round-robin, iar primele patru echipe se califică pentru playoff-uri. Finala se joacă pe un teren neutru.
Liga Premier din Sri Lanka este a doua cea mai mare competiție de cricket Twenty20 din lume, după Premier League Indian. Liga a atras mulți dintre cei mai buni jucători de cricket din lume, inclusiv Lasith Malinga, Angelo Matthews și Kusal Perera.
Liga Premier din Sri Lanka este un eveniment major în calendarul sportiv din Sri Lanka. Este o oportunitate pentru fanii de cricket să-și urmărească echipele și jucătorii preferați. Liga are, de asemenea, un impact economic important asupra țării.