Why the Indian tour and LPL are important for SLC

India will send their white ball specialist players on the tour to Sri Lanka

Jaffna Stallions won the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League in 2020

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

There are international cricket tours which the home Cricket Boards are keen to go ahead with as they are money-spinners and it also enhances their coffers. The tours that bring in a lot of money for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) are those made by India and England that draw the largest television audience. Add to that is the Lanka Premier League (LPL) through which SLC stands to get a big slice provided it is held each year.

Thus it is no surprise that SLC are keen to host India for a six-match white ball series in July as soon as the national team returns from England. The matches to be played from 13 to 27 July comprise three ODIs and three T20Is and the most probable venue for all six matches which are night games is the R Premadasa Stadium.

With the rise in COVID-19 cases both in Sri Lanka and in India the tour is expected to go ahead.

BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal has been quoted in a recent interview explaining why the BCCI went ahead with the tour of Sri Lanka despite the fact that the majority of their top cricketers will be in England at the time taking part in the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand (18-22 June) at Southampton followed by a five-match Test series against England in August-September.

The reasons behind it are two-fold. One, is due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the Virat Kohli-led Indian players won’t be able to fly to Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series in July, despite their long break between the WTC final and England Tests. Hence, the BCCI has decided to send a white-ball specialists’ team for the shorter format tour to Sri Lanka.

The second reason is, quoting Arun Dhumal: “As you know the cricket world is under tremendous pressure for the last one-and-a-half year given this COVID pandemic, lots of FTP have been cancelled which has put a lot of strains on these associations all over the world. Until and unless you do these tours, we can’t make up, and it would be very difficult for all these boards to come out of their financial struggle that they are going through.”

“We had to miss the Sri Lanka tour last year also. So, we need to work out on that and since our team that is going to England is primarily for Tests, we could have made up a team for these white-ball matches. So, that is why we thought we should do our bit to make sure the Sri Lankan board and we can play white-ball cricket in time.”

LPL – no tournament, no money

SLC is also keen to go ahead with the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) which would rake in a total sum of $ 10 million over a period of five years as per the contract signed with Dubai-based IPG (Innovative Production Group), the official rights holder from 2020-24, with a percentage increase each year the tournament is held.

Explaining why it is important to hold the LPL each year, SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said: “Basically we have an agreement with our events holder for five years and it’s an annual event. For some reason it cannot be held, there is a clause in the agreement that says that we will also be losing out on revenue for that particular year. That, we have incorporated into our annual budget and we look forward to playing the event. If the tournament is played only we will get the revenue, if not, we will lose out.”

De Silva said that apart from the revenue, the LPL also creates an opportunity for youngsters to showcase their skills.  

“It’s a kind of T20 tournament which the international players will also take part and, our players will also get an opportunity to play against them. That’s the kind of exposure which you will be providing them and the experience which they would gain from them will definitely allow them to play international cricket in time to come,” said De Silva.  

“Our plan was to hold the LPL before the World T20 in October but unfortunately due to the prevailing situation in the country sometimes it may not take place in August as scheduled. If it is not possible only we will put it off for December,” he said.