Picture Credit: Twitter
Sri Lanka Cricket have announced the schedule for the second edition of the Lanka Premier League. While the competition is set to commence between Galle and Jaffna on December 5, the final of the match is slated on December 23. Not long ago, the cricket board of the island country had conveyed that as many as 677 players had registered for the player's draft for the Lankan Premier League 2021.
The teams that have been picked to play the tournament opener this year are the finalists of the previous season which witnessed 23 matches. Although the competition is set to go ahead in a similar fashion this year, it is being learnt that will be 24 matches this season.
While the five teams will meet each other in a double round-robin stage, making the number of matches to be 20 in the league stage of Lanka Premier League- the same as last year- the extra game will be played in the business end of the tournament.
An additional match for the final four round
This is because while last year there was the traditional two semi-finals and one final format, this time around they will have two qualifiers, one eliminator, and a final much like the Indian Premier League.
Furthermore, while all the league stage matches will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, the Playoff fixtures are set to be played at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium.
A reserve day is in place only for the final and no other Playoff match or league match has a reserve day. Meanwhile, the matches will happen at two specified timings. While the afternoon matches will begin at 3:00 PM Indian Standard Time and Sri Lankan Standard time the night matches will commence at 7:30 PM.
Check out the complete schedule of the second edition of LPL here:
Note- All timings are mentioned in Indian Standard Time which is the same as Sri Lankan time
December 5
Galle vs Jaffna, 7:30 pm
December 6
Dambulla vs Kandy, 3:00 pm,
Colombo vs Galle, 7:30 pm
December 7
Jaffna vs Dambulla, 3:00 pm
Kandy vs Galle, 7:30 pm
December 8
Colombo vs Dambulla, 3:00 pm
Kandy vs Jaffna, 7:30 pm
December 9, REST DAY
December 10
Dambulla vs Galle, 3:00 pm
Jaffna vs Colombo, 7:30 pm
December 11
Galle vs Kandy, 3:00 pm
Jaffna vs Colombo, 7:30 pm
December 12
Jaffna vs Kandy, 3:00 pm
Galle vs Colombo, 7:30 pm
December 13
Galle vs Dambulla, 7:30 pm
December 14
Kandy vs Colombo, 3:00 pm
Dambulla vs Jaffna, 7:30 pm
December 15
REST DAY
December 16
Colombo vs Jaffna, 3:00 pm
Kandy vs Dambulla, 7:30 pm
December 17
Jaffna vs Galle, 3:00 pm
Colombo vs Kandy, 7.30 pm
December 18 & 19, REST AND TRAVEL DAY
December 20, Eliminator (Team 3 vs Team 4}, 3:00 pm
Qualifier 1, (Team 2 vs Team 4}, 7:30 pm
December 21, Qualifier 2 (Looser of Qualifier 1 vs winner of Eliminator}, 7:30 pm
December 22, REST DAY
December 23
Final, 7:30 pm
December 24
FINAL RESERVE DAY