The Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) was a

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

competition in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It was intended to be the premier Twenty20 league in the country, held by

Sri Lanka Cricket Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Cricket for Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on 30 June 1975 as a national spo ...

, when it replaced the

Inter-Provincial Twenty20 SLC Super Provincial Twenty20, earlier known as SLC Inter-Provincial Twenty20, was a Twenty20 domestic Cricket competition in Sri Lanka held by Sri Lanka Cricket. It was one of three Inter-Provincial Cricket tournaments. Sri Lanka used to ha ...

competition. After the 2011 season was postponed, its first season was held in 2012. The 2013 and 2014 seasons were cancelled due to organizational problems and lack of sponsorship. The 2014 Super 4's T20 replaced the tournament. A new competition called

Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional cricket league in Sri Lanka in Twenty20 format contested every year by teams representing Sri Lankan cities from 2020. The league was founded by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in 201 ...

was later created and ran its first season in 2020.

History

Postponed 2011 tournament

In May 2011,

announced a new franchise-based Twenty20 tournament in the country, modelled on the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

. The SLC signed a deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to organise the tournament. Seven teams were allocated, each representing a province. Somerset Entertainment Ventures have been given the rights to run the event for 15 years. The first tournament was to be held at

R. Premadasa Stadium The R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium (RPS) ( si, ආර්. ප්‍රේමදාස ක්‍රීඩාංගනය, ta, ஆர். பிரேமதாச அரங்கம்; also known as Khettarama Stadium, Ranasinghe Prem ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

between 19 July and 4 August. However, the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

refused to let the 12 Indian players selected in the tournament participate. Furthermore, allegations of corruption and incompetence by SLC and its handing over of the organisation to a previously unheard of Singapore-based Somerset Entertainment Ventures put the tournament in serious jeopardy. The tournament was postponed to 2012, with the former

taking its place. Sandiip Bhammer of SEV blamed the Indian players' withdrawal for causing sponsors to withdraw from the competition.

2012 tournament

In February 2012, SLC signed a renewed deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to hold the tournament in August 2012 at

and

Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

, with the seven teams as originally planned. The BCCI has said that Indian players in the SLPL was a possibility. The SLPL's partnership with the MCC Spirit of Cricket initiative was similar to the MCC– DLF partnership in the

2008 IPL The 2008 Indian Premier League season was the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League, established by the BCCI in 2007. The season commenced on 18 April 2008 with the final match was held on 1 June 2008. The competition started with a doub ...

. In June 2012, the seven provincial teams were changed to seven franchises, owned by private backers like the

IPL The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

and BPL.Sri Lanka Premier League adopts franchise model
Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 May 2012 The SLPL was officially launched on 16 July 2012 at

Cinnamon Grand Colombo The Cinnamon Grand Colombo, trading as Asian Hotels and Properties PLC and formerly called the Hotel Lanka Oberoi, is a luxury five-star hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Cinnamon Grand is located at 77 Galle Road, Kollupitiya, Colombo. Histor ...

. SLC Chairman Upali Dharmadasa announced plans to add two more franchises in the following years in other regions. Like the IPL, the SLPL would have cheerleaders and other entertainment, with the official website, mascot, theme song and logo of the SLPL also launched on 16 July. The 2012 SLPL season was played in

and

from 11 to 31 August 2012. Out of the 24 matches scheduled, 23 took place and one was rained off. Every team played each other in a round-robin system. The top four ranking sides progressed to the knockout stage of semi-finals followed by a final at

Uva Next The Uva Next was a franchise cricket team that took part in Sri Lanka Premier League, representing Uva (Sri Lanka), Uva. Success Sports Private Limited purchased the team for $4.6 million in 2012. They was owned for seven years, after which a new a ...

beat

Nagenahira Nagas The Nagenahira Nagas was a franchise cricket team that took part in Sri Lanka Premier League, representing Eastern Province. Varun Beverages Private Limited purchased the team for $3.22 million in 2012. They was owned for seven years, after whi ...

to become champions.

2013–2014

The second season was set to begin in 2013 but was cancelled after the franchises breached payment deadlines. The 2014 season was also cancelled, with the announcement in February 2014, citing lack of meaningful sponsorship for the league.

League organisation

Franchises

Aside from Nagenahira and

Uthura The Northern Province ( ta, வட மாகாணம் ''Vaṭa Mākāṇam''; si, උතුරු පළාත ''Uturu Paḷāta'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinc ...

, each of the seven proposed provincial teams had a team playing in the previous

. North Central and

Sabaragamuwa The Sabaragamuwa Province ( si, සබරගමුව පළාත ''Sabaragamuwa Paḷāta'', ta, சபரகமுவ மாகாணம் ''Sabaragamuwa Mākāṇam'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrati ...

Provinces did not have teams for the first season, planning to be added in future seasons. In 2012 SLC adopted a franchise system, with the teams coming under private ownership instead of the SLC board. At auction, the seven SLPL teams fetched an average of US$4.3 million, building on a reserve of $3 million each. The franchises were derived from the province-based teams. SLC chairman Upali Dharmadasa announced in July 2012 the SLPL planned to expand with the addition of two more teams in 2013, with all nine Sri Lankan provinces represented in the league. The 2013 season was cancelled.

Draft and squads

Under the original 2011 system, SLC would have assigned 16-18 players to each team, with five foreign players per team, and a Sri Lankan captain. But after the 2012 franchise system was adopted, a draft was organized and a lottery held to determine the order in which players were picked. SLC determined the value of the contract for each player in advance. The players were seen as likely to be drafted in two groups – Sri Lankan players and foreign players. Each franchise had an "icon player" and a maximum of 18 players including three under 21 players. Up to two teams in the league could nominate foreign "icon" players, and each team could field up to four foreign players per game. Out of the remaining players in the XI, one must be a Sri Lanka Under-21 international. Each squad had a minimum of seven Sri Lankan players. The 2011 captains were

Sanath Jayasuriya Deshabandu Sanath Teran Jayasuriya ( si, සනත් ජයසූරිය, ta, சனத் ஜெயசூர்யா; born 30 June 1969), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a captain. He is credited for having revolutionized one-day in ...

(Ruhuna),

Mahela Jayawardene Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene ( si, දෙනගමගේ ප්‍රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who is the current consultant coach ...

(Wayamba),

Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...

(Kandurata) and

Tillakaratne Dilshan Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan ( si, තිලකරත්න මුදියන්සේලාගේ ඩිල්ෂාන්; born 14 October 1976), commonly known as TM Dilshan () is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of th ...

(Basnahira); for Nagenahira and Uthura, Pakistan former captain

Shahid Afridi Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi ( ur, شاہد افریدی‎, ps, شاهد افریدی; born 1 March 1977), known as Shahid Afridi, is a Pakistani former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. He is current ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

former skipper

Daniel Vettori Daniel Luca Vettori (born 27 January 1979) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer who played for the New Zealand national cricket team. He was the 200th player to win their Test cricket cap for New Zealand. Vettori was the young ...

. Almost all Pakistani national cricketers were invited to play in the SLPL. Salaries were lower than the IPL, with the highest at $30,000, with

getting $35,000 in 2011. But in 2012 the highest salaries were $100,000 for

Chris Gayle Christopher Henry Gayle, OD (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer who has been playing international cricket for the West Indies since 1999. A destructive batter, Gayle is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen to have play ...

and $50,000 for Shahid Afridi.

Results and team performances

Team performances:

Marketing

Marketing of the Sri Lanka Premier League was conducted by the Somerset Entertainment Ventures who marketed the tournament with ambassadors, papare bands, theme songs, mascots and cheerleaders. The tournament will also have an opening ceremony. The Premier League was predicted to generate almost 580 million

Sri Lankan rupee The Sri Lankan Rupee ( si, රුපියල්, ta, ரூபாய்; Currency symbol, symbol: Re and Rs (plural) in English, රු in Sinhala, ௹ in Tamil; ISO 4217, ISO code: LKR) is the currency of Sri Lanka. It is subdivided into 100 ...

s of annual income for the Sri Lankan economy. Sandeep Bhammer of Somerset Entertainment Ventures said a 130 million rupees would come from hotel accommodation. The SLPL sponsors and partners included

Wisden India ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

on the Spirit of Cricket initiative, and YouTube.

Mahindra & Mahindra Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing corporation headquartered in Mumbai. It was established in 1945 as Mahindra & Mohammed and later renamed as Mahindra & Mahindra. Part of the Mahindra Group, ...

Ltd. was the title sponsor for SLPL. Sri Lanka Premier League unveiled a new changed

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

at the relaunch of the 2012 tournament. The SLPL mascot was Silva the lion, who was unveiled by the brand ambassadors, the Sri Lankan musicians duo

Bathiya and Santhush Bathiya & Santhush ( si, භාතිය හා සන්තුෂ්), also known as BNS, are a Sri Lankan pop duo consisting of Bathiya Jayakody (born on December 22, 1976) and Santhush Weeraman (born on September 5, 1977), who met while ...

. Bathiya and Santhush also composed the official tournament song.

Broadcasters

Carlton Sports Network Carlton Sports Network (CSN), was a Sri Lankan sports, lifestyles and business television channel. CSN was launched on 7 March 2011 and closed in 2016. It was involved in several controversies since its creation, primarily due to overlapping inte ...

broadcast all matches live in Sri Lanka. SLPL's international broadcast partners were

Asian Television Network Asian Television Network (ATN) is a publicly traded Canadian broadcasting company, with 54 television channels in 9 languages, serving the South Asian cultural communities in Canada. ATN operates a South Asian Radio service on XM, available in ...

in Canada,

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications ...

in the United States, United Kingdom and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and

STAR Sports Star Sports refers to several current or former Asian sports networks owned by The Walt Disney Company: * Star Sports (East Asian TV channel) * Star Sports (Indian TV network) * Fox Sports (Southeast Asian TV network) Fox Sports (formerly ESPN ...

in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Geosuper in Pakistan, as well as other countries in South and South East Asia. SLC president Upali Dharmadasa confirmed on 2 August 2012 that all SLPL matches will also be broadcast to a global audience via the SLPL's official YouTube channel, in the hope of benefiting the tournament through reaching more cricket fans around the world.

References

External links

SLPL
* *
Sri Lanka Premier League on YouTube
{{Twenty20 leagues Sri Lankan domestic cricket competitions Recurring sporting events established in 2011 Twenty20 cricket leagues Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2012 Defunct cricket leagues Defunct sports leagues in Sri Lanka mr:श्रीलंका प्रीमियर लीग