LANKA PREMIER LEAGUE – LPL

July 27, 2023 admin1

Brief History of LPL

The Lanka Premier League (LPL) is a professional cricket league held in Sri Lanka in the T20 format. It was established by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in 2018 and features teams representing five Sri Lankan cities. The league has gained popularity since its inception in 2020 and has seen three successful seasons so far.

Initially planned to be held from 18th August to 10th September 2018, the first season faced several postponements due to administrative issues within SLC. However, in June 2020, amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, SLC announced a new start date of 28 August 2020 for the tournament. The first season eventually kicked off on 26th November 2020, after being rescheduled multiple times to accommodate pandemic-related restrictions.

The Jaffna Kings emerged as the two-time champions in the 2021 & 2022 seasons. The league has gained significant attention from players worldwide, with 70 overseas players expressing interest in participating in the competition.

The subsequent editions of the LPL were planned for July 2021 and August 2022. However, the 2021 edition had to be pushed back to a start date of 19th November 2021. Unfortunately, the third edition, scheduled for August 2022, had to be postponed due to the ongoing Sri Lankan economic crisis and the 2022 protests in the country. Despite the player draft taking place, the rights holder of the tournament, the Innovative Production Group, decided not to proceed with the schedule considering the economic situation at that time.

Lanka Premier league 2023 season is scheduled to be held from 7th Dec to 23rd Dec.

Check schedule of LPL 2023 season

Current Teams of LPL

Team	City	Debut	Owner	Captain	Coach
Colombo Stars	Colombo, Western Province	2023	Sagar Khanna	Angelo Mathews	Simon Helmot
Dambulla Aura	Dambulla, Central Province	2022	Viranjith Thambugala	Dasun Shanaka	TBC
Galle Gladiators	Galle, Southern Province	2023	Nayana Wasalathilaka	Kusal Mendis	Chamara Kapugedara
Jaffna Kings	Jaffna, Northern Province	2021	Subaskaran Allirajah	Thisara Perera	Thilina Kandamby
Kandy Falcons	Kandy, Central Province	2023	Omar Khan	Wanindu Hasaranga	Piyal Wijetunge

Champions of LPL seasons

Season	Venue	Winners	Runner-up	Result	Player of the season
2020	Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota	Jaffna Stallions (Jaffna Kings)	Galle Gladiators	Jaffna Stallions won by 53 runs	Wanindu Hasaranga (Jaffna Stallions)
2021	Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota	Jaffna Kings	Galle Gladiators	Jaffna Kings won by 23 runs	Avishka Fernando (Jaffna Kings)
2022	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	Jaffna Kings	Colombo stars	Jaffna Kings won by 2 wickets	Sadeera Samarawickrama (Jaffna Kings)

Player acquisition, squad composition, and salaries
Let’s take a look at how these aspects have changed from 2020 to 2023 Lanka Premier League (LPL).

2020 – 2022
In the first three editions of the Lanka Premier League, teams selected players through a draft system. Before the draft, each team had the opportunity to directly sign a limited number of players. During the draft, team owners could pick players from four categories, with salaries ranging from US$3000 to US$60000. Each squad was allowed to have 14 local players and 6 overseas players.

2023
For the first time in the history of the Lanka Premier League, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has planned to conduct an auction to select players. Before the auction, each franchise is permitted to directly sign 2 local players and 2 overseas players for their squads. The franchises can still have 14 local players and 6 overseas players in each squad.

Here are some of the rules for franchises for the 2023 season:

1. The salary cap for the entire squad must not exceed US$1 million.
2. Each franchise has US$500,000 for direct signings and US$500,000 for the auction.
3. If a franchise has a remaining balance after direct signings, it cannot transfer it to the auction purse.
4. Players are categorized into capped and uncapped players. Each player registers with a base price ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 in $10,000 increments.
5. Uncapped players are categorized into $20,000 if they have played 50 first-class matches, $10,000 if they have played 25 first-class matches or 18 matches in the LPL or any other T20 franchise leagues, and $ 5,000 if they do not meet the above criteria.
6. All signed players will be given contracts of up to three years, and franchises will have the right to “retain or fire players by mutual consent” at the end of each year.
7. Slots created due to player unavailability or player release will be filled through an annual mini-auction, and there will be a designated trade window for transfer players.

Prize Money
In the 2022 edition, the winners of the tournament were awarded US$100,000, while the runners-up received US$50,000 in prize money.