The Lanka Premier League 2021 is the T20 cricket event organized by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in Sri Lanka. The cricket governing body of Sri Lanka has confirmed that the LPL 2021 will be held from 5 December to 23 December 2021. The 2021 version is the second edition of the Lanka Premier League in which 5 teams will participate. Sri Lanka Cricket has rescheduled the tournament 3 times due to the unavailability of foreign players and then finally the Lanka Premier League will begin from 5 December 2021.
Initially, it was thought by Sri Lanka Cricket to include six T20 franchises for Lanka Premier League 2021 edition but they concluded to stay with 5 teams. Jaffna Stallions won the last year's LPL 2020 tournament by defeating Galle Gladiators in the final match. There will be no new team in this LPL 2021 as the tournament is going to preceed with the existing 5 teams but the four of the five LPL teams has been renamed. Check the New names and see the LPL 2021 schedule below.
The Colombo Kings and the Dambulla Viiking have been eliminated from the tournament because of the franchise’s financial crises and then two new T20 clubs have taken part in place of them. Due to the change in ownership, Dambulla Viiking got the new name as Dambulla Giants, Jaffna Stallions replaced by Jaffna Kings, Kandy Tuskers adopted a new name Kandy Warriors and Colombo Kings have become Colombo Stars.
The tournament comprises league stage T20 matches and then a playoff round, all the league matches will be played at the R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo and the playoff round will be held at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota from 20 December 2021.
Currently, Danushka Gunathilaka is the top scorer of the LPL tournament with 476 runs and Wanindu Hasaranga is the leading wicket-taker with 17 wickets in the Lanka Premier League 2020.
The name of all the five T20 clubs is Colombo Stars, Dambulla Giants, Galle Gladiators, Jaffna Kings, and Kandy Warriors.
- Colombo Stars
Ashok Pathirage, who belongs to Softlogic Holdings is the current owner of the Colombo Stars which was guided by head coach Herschelle Gibbs. The Stars reached the semi-finals in the 2020 version of the Lanka Premier League. This T20 franchise represents Colombo, Western Province.
- Dambulla Giants
Qamar Khan belongs to the HAMRO Foundation and is the owner of Dambulla Giants, formerly called Dambulla Viking. Dasun Shanaka is the current captain of the team which also reached the semi-final round last year. The team was founded in 2020 that represents Dambulla, Central Province.
- Galle Gladiators
Nadeem Omar belongs to Omar Associates and is the owner of the Galle Gladiators, Bhanuka Rajapaksa is the captain and Umar Gul is the head coach of the Gladiators. Galle Gladiators represent the Galle, Southern Province, and their jersey color is Indigo and Gold.
- Jaffna Kings
Subaskaran Allirajah belongs to Lyca Group is the owner of the Jaffna Kings and the team represents the Jaffna, Northern Province. The squad will play under the leadership of Thisara Perera and be guided by Thilina Kandamby as a head coach. Jaffna Kings won the title of the Lanka Premier League 2020 by defeating the Galle Gladiators by 53 runs.
- Kandy Warriors
Ravi Gupta from Ravi Safexpay and Pankaj Tripathi from Vernost Technologies are the owners of the Kandy Warriors. The team was founded in 2020 that represents Kandy, Central Province.
Prize Money of Lanka Premier League 2021
The prize money for the champions of the Lanka Premier League is kept $100,000, the team who will be at the second position will get $ 50,000, the player of the final competition will receive $2500, player of the tournament will earn $ 10,000, Emerging Player of LPL tournament in 2021 will get $ 2,000 and $ 2,000 is prize money kept for Fair Play Award. Additionally, there are various incentives distributed throughout the event for the best bowler, best batsman, etc.
Streaming Rights
The broadcast licenses to the Lanka Premier League have been awarded to Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) for the second time (LPL).
LPL Team Records all season : Colombo Stars, Dambulla Giants, Galle Gladiators, Jaffna Kings, Kandy Warriors
LPL Records By Year : 2020, 2021
Highest Partnership in LPL
Lanka Premier League Records all Season