Sri Lanka Cricket has doubled down on their intention to go ahead with the second edition of the Lanka Premier League next month, once more reiterating that the tournament will take place between 30 July and 22 August. 

Dispelling fears the tournament may be postponed as a result of rising COVID-19 cases in the country, SLC stated that health protocols for the tournament will be “planned based on the directions of the Ministry of Health”.

“Sri Lanka Cricket reiterates that the second edition of the Lanka Premier League will be held during July and August 2021, as earlier announced,” stated an SLC media release.

The inaugural edition of Sri Lanka’s premier T20 league was conducted last year at the MRICS in Hambantota, with the Jaffna Stallions emerging victors in the five-team tournament. With SLC revealing that 135 million viewers had tuned in across TV and digital platforms for the final, the success of the tournament – amongst the first major sporting events to be organised following the onset of the pandemic – was a much-needed boon for a country that had been starved of cricket for nearly a year

The bio-bubble under which the tournament was held also proved to be a success, and it is this which has left SLC feeling confident of hosting the tournament next month, as opposed to later in the year.

At the time however, the country’s COVID crisis was not quite as dire as it is now. Sri Lanka recently breached the 200,000-mark for COVID cases in the country, with over 2,000 new cases being reported daily in recent weeks. 

Also of concern would be the fact that managing such a bubble proved impossible for the Indian Premier League (IPL), which was postponed recently after a spate of positive cases amongst players.

All matches of India-Sri Lanka series to be played in Colombo