Lanka Premier League postponed until November
The LPL has been pushed to November
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The Lanka Premier League (LPL), which was scheduled to kick-off on August 28, has now been postponed until at least mid-November due to quarantine restrictions in Sri Lanka. The new restrictions have forced the board, who were hoping for leniency from health ministry, to reschedule the tournament.
In what has come as a major blow for Sri Lankan cricket, the Lanka Premier League (LPL) has been postponed until at least mid-November due to the newly-imposed quarantine restrictions in the country of Sri Lanka. The organizers of the tournament and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) were hoping to kick-start the T20 competition on August 28, but the Lankan governmentâs quarantine restrictions - which has made it mandatory for anyone arriving in the country to observe a 14-day quarantine - has rendered it impossible for the board to go ahead with the originally scheduled date. Thus, as a result, SLC have been forced to push the tournament until mid-November.
The board were, originally, hoping for the health ministry to be lenient when it comes to quarantine restrictions on the arriving foreigners but imposition of the 14-day rule has left SLC with no option but to push the tournament. Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, SLC vice-president Ravin Wickramaratne revealed that the board are now potentially looking at hosting the tournament in the November 20 to December 12 window.
"We're not the experts, so we had to go with what the health ministry is telling us.There's a window from November 20th to December 12th, so that is what we are planning,â SLC vice-president Ravin Wickramaratne told ESPNcricinfo.
The news, interestingly, comes as a relief for several Sri Lankan and marquee overseas players as it would mean that they would be able to partake in both the IPL and the LPL. The original schedule had the LPL overlap with the IPL - quarantine restrictions would also have made it impossible for players to play both tournaments - but the revised schedule, which will see the tournament take place after the IPL, will give an opportunity for several players to participate in both competitions.
Sri Lanka, like New Zealand, is one of the very few countries not largely affected by the pandemic that is the coronavirus. With less than 3,000 overall covid-19 cases and with just over 200 active cases, Sri Lanka is one of the safer countries in the world and the Lankan players, too, have been training and playing intra-nation warm-up matches to keep themselves fit and in touch. Their first assignment will most likely be against Bangladesh at home, but dates for the series are yet to be finalized by both the boards and the ICC.Â
