Lanka Premier League 2021 rescheduled to November-December
The second edition of the Lanka Premier League has been postponed to November. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) planned to conduct the tournament from July 29 onwards. However, the unavailability of many overseas stars has compelled the organizers to delay the competition.
According to a media release by SLC, the latest edition of the Lanka Premier League will begin on November 19 and culminate on December 12.
"The Governing Council of the Lanka Premier League is of the view that rescheduling the tournament will enable more players from leading cricketing nations to take part in the league," SLC stated in the release.
The release further stated that the organizers had to postpone the competition because a similar type of league would be underway in the same window. Many teams will be on international tours, which is why SLC decided to delay LPL 2021.
SLC had been planning to make this call for some time. A few reports had emerged earlier claiming that the sudden announcement of the Kashmir Premier League left the LPL in a fix and SLC has officially declared the postponement of the tournament.
Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan and Dwayne Smith had registered for Lanka Premier League 2021
Aiming to conduct the tournament from July 29 onwards, SLC allowed players to register themselves for the Lanka Premier League 2021 Draft. Some big names like Tamim Iqbal, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Dwayne Smith, Ravi Rampaul, Haris Sohail, Rilee Rossouw, James Faulkner, Tabraiz Shamsi and Rahmanullah Gurbaz registered themselves for the tournament.
However, it seems SLC wants a larger pool of players to be available. Along with the Kashmir Premier League, Pakistan's tour of the West Indies, India's tour of England and Zimbabwe's tour of Ireland will also be underway in the original LPL 2021 window.