LPL can be successful if Sri Lankans are part of franchise: Anil Mohan

• LPL challenging other leagues across the world with its new innovations

 By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The Lanka Premier League (LPL) has been in existence for the past five years, and with each passing year, it has grown gradually to be compared with some of the existing established leagues around the world.

“I am not comparing it to the IPL; there is the Big Bash (BBL), the PSL (Pakistan Super League), the CPL (Caribbean Premier League) – we are there on par. I would say we are better than the CPL and other leagues, and equal to the PSL,” Anil Mohan, the official rights holder of the LPL, after successfully concluding LPL-5 told Daily FT.

“Last year was the one where we turned the corner. We had everything in order, it was planned properly. We had a very good audience coming for every match, good cricket, and full houses. We had the inaugural player auction. Star Sports came in as our broadcast partner identifying the league as one of the top three in the world, with some of the best cricketers coming on board. When you have good players and a good crowd, your event is successful. That year, we had players like David Miller, Babar Azam, and Shakib Al Hasan, who really changed the LPL to a different level. We became the top league last year. We also had the honour of President Ranil Wickremesinghe attending the final to a full house of 27,800 people at the R. Premadasa Stadium.”

“We had some challenges this year but we still got good players. We had three venues and all of them were really good. Kandy had a good crowd and good games and two last ball finishes, Dambulla was the best pitch of all three venues, even 225 was chased down. The matches in Colombo were all really good. We had a Super Over, last over finishes, and close matches. On top of that, we were very lucky to have delegates from 108 cricketing countries who were part of the ICC coming to see the final because the ICC AGM was happening in Colombo. They really praised the quality of cricket and the atmosphere with at least 27,000 people present. At least 80-90% of those countries have never seen such a big attendance for a final.”

“On top of that, the drone show for the first time in cricket. That was like the icing on the cake. No one had done it before and, after that, so many cricket boards like South Africa and Pakistan called. They all want to do it. We are number one, whatever is said and done. The economy is small here and it is at a different level. But the level of cricket is very good, crowds are coming and the people love it. Even after Sri Lanka didn’t do well in the T20 World Cup, people came to support and watch cricket.”

Mohan said that the success of the LPL can be gauged by the fact that 3-4 Sri Lankan owners have already shown interest in participating. “We want Sri Lankan corporates to participate and take ownership as this is a Sri Lankan league. The only way this can be successful is if Sri Lankans are part of the franchise.”

“We are launching a new team next year so that there will be more competition. Samantha Dodanwela [the Tournament Director] and everyone at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) were very supportive of me. We should plan and structure together so that it will entice investors from around the world to participate. That can happen only when SLC takes ownership of the league. Ownership should be by the SLC, I am only taking care of your baby for a few years. At the end of the day, it is SLC’s property. It’s just that we have to get the investor in. We’ve already discussed it with them. I think things will fall in place from next year.”

Mohan said the only challenge LPL was facing was with the owners.

“Player wise, we are not facing any challenges, but owners are the problem. This year, I lost more than $ 4 million because we were not informed in time by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit – who knew of his record – that the Bangladesh owner was corrupt. If you leave the financial side out, everything was done successfully. International players played so well, local players came back to form, and there were Under-23 players. On top of that, we introduced the Power Blast, which was also successful. Everything went smoothly.”

“You need good owners to buy good players. One issue we face is that sometimes the owner doesn’t pay the players because he has not made a profit. If the owners do not pay the players, come to us [IPG]. On behalf of the owner, we have lost money. We have lost money doing LPL for the last five years. We have already invested $ 50 million in this country for the last five years – that money IPG won’t get – but we deliver. Therefore, we need proper structuring and support from everyone – the Sports Ministry, SLC, IPG, and the owners.”

“One other thing that I am very critical of [is the scheduling; we need] to fix the dates six months ahead of time where every player can come and knows that he is going to play in this league,” said Mohan, who holds the LPL rights for the next five years. “You sign a contract with him; if you don’t at the last minute, wherever he gets good money, he will go there. Better we plan it properly six months in advance so that everything goes smoothly.”

Asked what made him undertake the LPL, Mohan said: “I have done all the leagues in the world. As broadcasters, I’ve learnt from there, so when this opportunity came in 2020, I just took it. There were challenges. No one can say I don’t have experience in these matters, I have seen everything in the last 25 years. Why I know all these things is because I was also head of Ten Sports and worked with them for 10-15 years. I worked with some top marketing companies as well, and when this opportunity came, it was not difficult for me.”