SLC looking forward to Indian player’s participation in ‘Lankan Premier League’
Sri Lanka Cricket is trying to convince BCCI to secure the participation of Indian players for the Lankan Premier League tournament to be played in August this year. SLC last week confirmed that the tournament comprising six teams will take place from the August 18 to September 10.
The Sri Lankan Cricket board have earlier come out with domestic T20 tournaments in order to boost revenue and promote homegrown talent in the country, but they have flopped miserably. With South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, West Indies all having their own domestic T20 Tournaments that generate a good revenue for the respective boards as well as help young talents reach the global stage, now in a bid to match their counterparts, the SLC have rebranded their earlier domestic tournament to “Lankan Premier League” (LPL) which will be played from August 10 to September 10. The authorities expect a good amount of Indian cricketers - both capped and uncapped - to make themselves available for the tournament.
"Even if we aren't able to attract top Indian players, the participation of uncapped Indians will help us to market the event better. The demand for players from West Indies for franchise based tournaments is also quite high and that is the reason why we are hosting our event after the Caribbean Premier League," an SLC official told Cricbuzz.
The BCCI had refused to provide No Objection Certificates (NOC) for Indian players to take part in any foreign franchise-based tournaments. However, the SLC is hopeful of trying to make things work.
"These are still early stages and we need to put up the processes of conducting the tournament. One area that we will certainly look at is the possibility of attracting Indian players for the event. We have a very good relationship with the BCCI and they have always supported us and we are hopeful of getting their support to make the event a success," the official added.
As per SLC officials, the LPL will feature six teams in the inaugural edition. Each of the six teams will play their same opponents twice in the group stage. Further schedule and dates were not revealed. SLC has allocated a window for the Lankan Premier League tournament for five years and will sell rights for that period.