Dubai based sports broadcasting company, Innovative Production Group (IPG), has been awarded ‘total rights’ for Sri Lanka’s upcoming franchise based T20 tournament, Lanka Premier League (LPL), a top Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) official confirmed yesterday.

IPG will own ground, production, franchises and TV rights of the tournament. They will pay USD 2 million annually for five years to SLC for the said rights, while SLC will only handle venues and umpires.

A total of 143 international players and 28 coaches have shown their interest in taking part in the tournament, and the deadline to submit entries is today.

30 international cricketers and five coaches will be selected for the league. In addition, a pool of 130 local players will be available for franchises to select from.

Ceylon Today earlier reported that a Sri Lankan icon player would get a salary cap of US$ 60,000, while a top cricketer would be in the range of US$ 50,000 to 40,000. Others would fit into the US$ 40,000 to 30,000 and US$ 20,000 to 10,000 ranges, depending on their stature.  International players are expected to be in the US$ 10,000 to 60,000 range.

Earlier, SLC’s ambitious plan to go ahead with the tournament faced a setback with the Government’s decision to further delay the scheduled opening of the airport, which was set for 1 August.

President Shammi Silva stated that if necessary SLC will not hesitate to charter special flights to bring down international players for the tournament.

LPL will feature 23 games to be played at R. Premadasa Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Pallekele, and Dambulla. The action will move from venue to venue as the tournament progresses, rather than be played in various venues within the space of a few days as is the case in almost all other leading franchise based T20s tournaments.

The five teams are Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, Dambulla and Kandy, but none of these teams will have a base venue, nor will they play most of their games in the city they are named after.(insidesport)