The rescheduled 2022 Lanka Premier League (LPL) will be held between December 6 and 23, the organisers have announced.
The third season of the LPL was initially slated to be held in August however, the political and economic crisis in the island nation had forced a postponement last month.
“It’s my pleasure to announce that the LPL will be held from 6th to 23rd December,” LPL tournament organiser Samantha Dodanwela told mediapersons and the development was also confirmed by IPG, the LPL’s official promoter, on Twitter.
Meanwhile, according to an ESPNcricinfo report, the sponsors of LPL felt that organising the tournament in August during the crisis was suboptimal, which led to the official postponement in July. Later, the Asia Cup, set to begin on August 27, was also shifted from Sri Lanka to the UAE due to similar reasons.
Meanwhile, no decision has been taken yet on a potential LPL re-draft. It is understood that the tournament organisers are deciding between two options: either holding a fresh draft, or going ahead with as many of the available players as possible with only the slots taken up by any unavailable foreign players being re-drafted.
As per Sri Lanka’s Future Tours Program, the tournament will likely be sandwiched between a home Test series against West Indies in November and an away ODI series against India in December-January.
The LPL is a five-team competition being held since 2020. Jaffna Kings, formerly the Stallions, have been champions in the two previous seasons while Galle Gladiators have been runners-up in both those editions.The other three teams are Colombo Stars, Kandy Falcons and Dambulla Giants – all three of whom have also gone through changes in ownership since the inaugural edition.