Sri Lanka Premier League
All good or bad things come to an end at some stage, in that sense every cricket lover or critic is eager to see the end of IPL 4 which will be completed on May 28! The tournament has lasted 50 days, 10 teams and 74 matches. It is almost a welcome relief for the players, viewers, sponsors and the journalists. But hold on, we have not seen the end of it as yet, as another league is just to be born in July. It’s called the SriLankan Premier League – another league intended to fill cricket but in all sense it has the credentials to kill it!
The first edition of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) will be a seven-team inter-provincial tournament played over approximately 18 days at the end of July and the beginning of August this year. The teams will play each other once, with the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals. All the games will be played the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo and the winner of the tournament will qualify for the Champions League Twenty20. The SriLankan players will lead each of the 7 teams which will comprise of the provincial players. The concept of playing all games at Premadasa will negate any sort of home and away advantage of IPL, needless to say the fan base.
The bears, kites, rhinos, wolves, oryxes – the various surnames of the seven teams – will need the power of the respective species to upstage a grand event in SriLanka. Cricket – gentleman’s game – those days has now been married to entertainment and commercial glamour, which has given a new lease of life and new people to watch but the other side of the coin is, the players and viewers are not benefitted from physique point of view. Monetary benefit is colossal but at the expense of the shelf – life of the cricketers. The thinking amongst the players is to retire early from international cricket and try to shine in these club level matches. It’s almost a given that no one can emulate or think of emulating Sachin, Warne, Murali – all legends in their own right – have set those grand records not only because they were brilliant but also due to their longevity in the game.
SLPL will bring the fervor of the T20 cricket, the glamour of cheerleaders, new provincial players from SL, some foreign men from across the world but will it bring the fan base? Will it make its presence felt? Will it ultimately result in finding new SL talent for the future? There are many questions but a very few answers that can come from the administrators. As a frenetic and passionate cricket lover, i sincerely wish and hope the cricket is not over killed and made extinct in the years to come!
Tags: Club, Cricket, IPL, League, SLPL, Sri Lanka Premier League, T20 Cricket
