Colombo: The Lanka Premier League (LPL) has been postponed until at least mid-November.
The decision to postpone the tournament was taken on Tuesday with Sri Lanka's government stating that anyone arriving on the island for the LPL would have to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
With only 17 days remaining until the scheduled start of the tournament, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was forced to postpone the LPL.
The board was hoping that Sri Lanka's health ministry would allow a shorter quarantine period for people involved in the tournament, but with people possibly coming in from countries where coronavirus has recorded huge numbers, Sri Lanka's health advisors did not relent in asking for a 14-day quarantine period.
"We're not the experts, so we had to go with what the health ministry is telling us. There's a window from November 20th to December 12th, so that is what we are planning." It was not feasible to simply push the tournament back several weeks, as it would then clash with the proposed dates for the IPL, which the LPL is unlikely to be able to compete with in terms of viewer interest," SLC vice-president Ravin Wickramaratne said.
With the LPL being postponed, Sri Lanka's Isuru Udana and Lasith Malinga would be available for the IPL 2020 since the beginning.
The IPL is slated to be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament would run for 53 days.
Sri Lanka has been successful in containing the virus and it has recorded even fewer official deaths than New Zealand. B
"We have asked the health ministry to try and be more flexible going forward. If they have to do a 14-day quarantine for the Bangladesh tour, then the costs of that will have to be borne by their board, and it becomes difficult," Wickramaratne said.
The SLC has frequently failed to host a franchise T20 tournament and the LPL was being viewed as the first major global T20 league to be played on the island.
