Pallekele, Hambantota to host all LPL matches

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy 

• Tournament to be played from 21 Nov. to 13 Dec.; Players Draft on 19 Oct.

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy and Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota will host all 23 matches to be played in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2020. 

The League is scheduled to be held from 21 November to 13 December and the Players Draft is scheduled to be held on 19 October.

The Pallekele International Cricket Stadium which has hosted 7 Tests, 26 ODIs and 23 T20 Internationals has a spectator capacity of 35,000. The Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, also with a spectator capacity of 35,000, has hosted 21 ODIs and seven T20 Internationals. The last T20 match played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium was between West Indies and Sri Lanka on 6 March where the visitors triumphed by seven wickets in the D/N encounter.

The last T20 encounter at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium was played on 6 August  2013 when host Sri Lanka got the better of the visiting South African side by six wickets in another D/N encounter.

In the Lanka Premier League, five franchisee teams, named after Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna, will compete in 23 matches over a 15-day period for the title. Along with all key current international players from Sri Lanka, 75 foreign players will be in the Players Draft to be picked by the five franchisees. 

“LPL gives us an opportunity to provide the cricket-loving nation a T20 extravaganza to look forward to. Sri Lankan cricket fans are extremely passionate about the game, and it gives me tremendous joy and happiness that IPG got the mandate to conduct the League here. The Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) board too has been extremely helpful and I look forward for their unending co-operation and support to make this League a grand success. We are committed to create a world class league with LPL,” said IPG CEO Anil Mohan.

“The tournament will not only create a platform for local players to develop their skills by playing alongside world class players, but will also provide an opportunity for Sri Lankan cricket fans to watch a quality cricket tournament,” said SLC Vice-President Ravin Wickramaratne.

Innovative Production Group (IPG) is a globally renowned sports production company founded by the current CEO Anil Mohan. With a collective experience of 50 years in live sport broadcasting, franchise and league management, IPG continues to innovate and push towards sports excellence in the word. Besides the official right holders of Lanka Premier League (LPL), IPG has successfully managed the Abu Dhabi T10 League.

In the past, IPG has managed the exclusive rights to broadcast and live stream some of the key cricketing events around the globe. IPG has represented and worked very closely with some world class players such as former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, West Indian skipper Brian Lara, Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle to name a few. 

Industry stalwarts like LPL COO Sanjay Raina, LPL Head Franchise and Sponsorship Management Sangeet Shirodkar and LPL Head of Project Operation Jamie Dean have joined hands with Anil Mohan to take LPL to the forefront of the sports ecosystem.

Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota