Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) has announced the date for the start of the Lanka Premier League (LPL). The Lanka Premier League is Sri Lanka’s franchise cricket competition like the IPL. The LPL is scheduled to commence on July 1, right after the conclusion of the ICC T20 World Cup. The competition will end on July 31.
The Lanka Premier League is a five-team competition with 24 matches being played between the sides. 20 matches will be played in the first round and four matches will be played in the playoffs which includes both the qualifiers and an eliminator.
The Lanka Premier League has five teams named; B-Love Kandy, Jaffna Kings, Colombo Strikers, Galle Titans, and Dambulla Aura. The defending champions of this competition is B-Love Kandy which was led by Wanindu Hasaranga. Wanindu Hasaranga was the captain of the Kandy-based franchise and was also the top run-getter and the top wicket-taker in the league last season as he scored 279 runs in nine innings and took 19 wickets.
LPL is set to start on July 1 and will be a great spectacle of cricket for budding Sri Lankan cricketers. Some notable foreign cricketers who take part in this competition are Babar Azam who was the second-highest run-scorer in the competition last year, Chris Lynn, Naseem Shah, Ben McDermott, and even Suresh Raina was a part of the LPL team B-Love Kandy who won the title last year. It is a thrilling competition with a lot of T20 action, exciting contests, and some aggressive cricket.
The SLC made a press release to announce the starting date of the Lanka Premier League. The LPL auctions will likely take place in May or June. Sri Lankan stars like Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, and Dinesh Chandimal are also a part of the Lanka Premier League. The competition started in 2020 and four editions have already been played with Jaffna Kings winning three titles and B-Love Kandy winning one in 2023 where they defeated Dambulla Aura in the finals to win their first LPL title.
The Lanka Premier League was expected to start in 2018
The Lanka Premier League was expected to start in 2018 but the SLC kept delaying it finally to commence the league in 2020. Jaffna Kings won three back-to-back titles in 2020, 2021, and 2022 but last year B-Love Kandy won their first title in the competition. The B-Love Kandy franchise is led by Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga whereas Jaffna Kings is led by Thisara Perera and has players like Shoaib Malik, David Miller, Chris Lynn, and Rahmanullah Gurbaaz.
The Lanka Premier League 2024 will begin on July 1st and will conclude on July 31. In this one month, the five teams will compete against each other in a thrilling competition for the LPL title and it will be interesting to see which team will lift the LPL title this season. The competition will commence after the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 which is scheduled to commence on June 1 and will be jointly hosted by the West Indies and the United States.
