The Lanka Premier League will return from 27 November to 23 December, spreading its 34 matches across Colombo, Kandy and Dambulla. It is the sixth running of Sri Lanka’s domestic T20 showpiece and, if everything lands on time, the first with six sides in the draw.
Sri Lanka Cricket has shelved its preferred July–August window for the second time in three years. Officials believe a late-year slot meshes better with the men’s T20 World Cup, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February 2026.
“The idea to conduct the LPL during this time frame is aimed at aligning the tournament with the ICC men’s T20 World Cup 2026,” LPL tournament director Samantha Dodanwela said. It is a tidy piece of scheduling: national players keep match-fit, broadcasters gain clearer evenings, and the league avoids clashing with the Caribbean Premier League and the Hundred.
A sixth outfit could be added, ending two seasons of five-team cricket. “Potential owners for a sixth team are currently being vetted,” Dodanwela confirmed. The board has made no promises on where the expansion side will be based, though talk of reviving a Southern province identity has done the rounds.
Caution is understandable. Jaffna Kings and Colombo Strikers were cut loose earlier this year for what SLC termed “failure to uphold contractual obligations”. Both slots were snapped up quickly enough, yet no franchise in the competition now owns a timeline stretching back further than 2024. Continuity, the one thing the league craves, remains fragile.
Off the field, the curators are busy. SLC wants friendlier batting surfaces after another Premadasa season where 150 felt par on a good night. “We were quite happy with the wickets during the last edition, particularly in Dambulla and Kandy,” Dodanwela noted. “We saw lots of high scores and even some centuries during that portion of the tournament. It was only in Colombo where batting was a little harder.”
That honesty pairs with action. The Premadasa square is being relaid, and senior players – Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva among them – have urged more consistent bounce and carry. The thinking is simple: if the LPL mirrors Indian surfaces now, Sri Lanka’s line-up will not need a crash course in February.
There is still plenty to settle. Franchise auctions, player drafts and a final nod from television partners sit on the to-do list. Yet the shape of the 2025 LPL is clear enough: a compressed, pre-Christmas blast, designed for preparation as much as entertainment, and – if a new owner can be found in time – an expanded field chasing Jaffna’s crown.
