Sri Lanka Cricket announced that the Lanka Premier League 2022 (LPL) will start on July 31 and will run until August 21. The month-long tournament will be held in Colombo and Hambantota.
Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo will host the initial games of the tournament while the competition will move to the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota for the latter stages.
”We are extremely happy to announce the third edition of the Lanka Premier League, which has started its journey toward carving a place in the global T20 League competitions, as a formidable tournament,” said Shammi Silva, President, Sri Lanka Cricket.
Five teams will compete in the Lanka Premier League with a total of 24 matches to be played. The registration of the international players will commence soon.
At some point, doubts over this year’s edition surfaced due to the political tension in the island nation. However, with Australia agreeing to tour for a full-fledged series, Sri Lanka Cricket decided to go ahead with the tournament.
LPL 2022 is going to be the third edition of Sri Lanka’s domestic T20 competition. Jaffna Kings, formerly known as Jaffna Stallions, won the inaugural edition in 2020, beating Galle Gladiators by 53 runs.
The team defended their title in 2021, beating the same opponent, this time by 23 runs.
Jaffna Kings are, in fact, the most successful side in LPL history. Apart from the two league titles, they have the best win percentage of 66.66 after winning 14 of their 21 matches. The team also holds several records like the biggest win margin (by runs) in LPL.
Meanwhile, Danushka Gunathilaka of Galle Gladiators is currently leading the run-scoring charts of the Lanka Premier League with 702 runs while Jaffna Kings’ Wanindu Hasaranga is the highest wicket-taker with 28 scalps.
Featured photo: AFP / Ishara S. Kodikara