The Colombo Strikers played a knockout match on what is supposedly their home ground on Thursday in the Lanka Premier League (LPL).
The Strikers, which included players such as New Zealand sensation Glenn Phillips, three-time LPL-winning skipper Thisara Perera, and star batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz (who was part of the T20 World Cup), had defeated their Eliminator opponents Kandy Falcons twice in the league stage.

At the Khettarama, the least expensive seats run approximately SLR 200 (about the price of a loaf of bread), somewhat better seats run about SLR 600 (about the price of a fancy coffee), and extremely nice seats run about SLR 2000 (roughly the price of a fast-food burger meal). If you had paid these sums, you would have been able to attend not just the evening match, which featured Strikers, but also the afternoon qualifier between Galle Marvels and Jaffna Kings, the two teams who finished first and second in the league, which would have sent one of those teams to the championship match.

A healthy event would have 35,000 spectators packed inside the Khettarama. Social media in Sri Lanka would be roiling with discussions, analysis, and criticism. Sponsors would be fighting with one another to get included.
There was, in fact, very little more than a scattering of fans there, Falcons would play without sponsorship, and even if the diehard supporters of Sri Lankan cricket were watching, there was no sign that these matches were becoming well known. The second Qualifier between the Kings and Falcons on Saturday was a nail-biter, with somewhat greater attendance and attention.
Despite the fact that the LPL had debuted in 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 shutdown, the inaugural season had had several positive aspects. Maybe the pandemic’s restrictions were beneficial to it.
One captive audience the LPL had was Sri Lankans who were bored at home and had nothing better to do. Fans from other countries were also attracted in since there wasn’t much cricket played anywhere else in the world at the time. One benefit of playing in a single bio-secure location was that only one broadcast team was needed, despite the high expenditures associated with keeping the tournament bubble intact.
Jaffna team, which was formerly known as Stallions, emerged victorious, it seemed as though the competition had room to expand. For reasons that go well beyond sports, Jaffna supporters are the most resilient in the nation. However, there were still a lot of people in the northern cities and the diaspora who felt a connection.
To the dismay of those proprietors, Sri Lanka Cricket had fired the victorious Stallions squad by the next edition. Since then, there has been no significant attempt to cultivate a fan following in their hometowns.
Ever since, the League Premier League has seen a lurch from season to season, with each new edition bringing in a new set of proprietors, each more bizarre than the previous. Consider the Dambulla brand as an illustration. The squad that participated in the first competition was called Dambulla Viiking, and it was owned by Sachiin Joshi, who is now more well-known among the Indian police force. After Joshi divested, it was the Dambulla Giants the next year. Dambulla Aura, owned by Aura Lanka, was in 2022 and 2023. According to the company’s website, they deal in anything from herbal remedies to helicopters, but they don’t currently have any items that are widely accessible for consumption in the Sri Lankan or any other market.
You begin to question who this event is really for when you witness corporation after firm purchasing these franchises and then quickly selling them while stadiums in a nation where cricket is unquestionably the most popular sport remain mainly empty.
Year after year, organizers have bragged about their broadcast ratings. Therefore, why is franchise ownership experiencing such a terrible turnover rate? Even though B-Love Kandy prevailed in the competition last year, their proprietors have since passed away.
We refer to them as “organisers” instead of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) since, atypically for SLC, they have permitted an outside party to take over and manage the LPL on their behalf. This is the Innovative Production Group (IPG), a broadcasting company mostly focused on cricket.

Of course, SLC and IPG are facing significant economic challenges. With a population of 22 million, or about the same as Mumbai, Sri Lanka is a small market by South Asian standards in which they operate. Furthermore, even though the organizers were ready for the difficulties of the Covid period, they were not prepared for Sri Lanka’s economy to collapse in late 2021 and early 2022. Due to the nation’s significantly lower level of wealth, corporates are frugal with their marketing budgets and fans are reluctant to part with what little disposable cash they do have each month.
However, despite these exclusions and limitations, the LPL is failing. This is mostly due to one of SLC’s biggest transgressions: the board has never made a serious effort to introduce cricket into the provinces it purports to represent. Playing in Jaffna, Dambulla, or even Kandy as a child means you won’t have a competitive local team to represent. To play senior cricket, you must travel to Colombo. In turn, this means that supporters in these cities never really get the chance to get behind local players, as they might at the Big Bash League, the Caribbean Premier League, or the Pakistan Super League. For the most part, this would mean leaving their family, finding a job, and a new support system.
Even if the league’s organizers may mention certain growth indicators, many other leagues are currently outcompeting this one. The Major League Cricket, which is now taking place in the USA, has attracted players like as Pat Cummins, Rashid Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Kieron Pollard, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, and Trent Boult. The Premier League has never had a roster this impressive in its five seasons.
This accurately captures the current state of men’s cricket in Sri Lanka. SLC representatives have made a concerted effort to imply that it is progressing. In actuality, everyone else is lagging behind Sri Lanka.
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