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.

Lanka Premier League (LPL) je profesionálny Twenty20 kriketový turnaj na Srí Lanke. Turnaj organizuje Šrílanská kriketová rada (SLC) a jeho úvodná edícia sa konala v roku 2020. Turnaj sa hrá v rôznych mestách na Srí Lanke a zúčastňuje sa ho päť tímov. Každý tím hrá so všetkými ostatnými tímami dvakrát v základnej časti a najlepšie štyri tímy sa kvalifikujú do play-off.

LPL je popredným kriketovým turnajom na Srí Lanke a priťahuje najlepších hráčov z celého sveta. Turnaj sa vysiela naživo v televízii a online a teší sa veľkej diváckej sledovanosti. LPL je dôležitou súčasťou srílanského kriketového kalendára a pomáha rozvíjať šport v krajine.