| 2021 Lanka Premier League | |
| Fromdate: | 5 December |
| Todate: | 23 December 2021 |
| Cricket Format: | Twenty20 |
| Tournament Format: | Double Round-robin and Playoffs |
| Host: | Sri Lanka |
| Champions: | Jaffna Kings |
| Runner Up: | Galle Gladiators |
| Count: | 2 |
| Participants: | 5 |
| Matches: | 24 |
| Player Of The Series: | Avishka Fernando (Jaffna Kings) |
| Most Runs: | Kusal Mendis (Galle Gladiators) (327) |
| Most Wickets: | Samit Patel (Galle Gladiators) (16) Maheesh Theekshana (Jaffna Kings) (16) |
| Previous Year: | 2020 |
| Previous Tournament: | 2020 Lanka Premier League |
| Next Year: | 2022 |
| Next Tournament: | 2022 Lanka Premier League |
The 2021 Lanka Premier League also known as Wolf777 News LPL T20,[1] for sponsorship reasons, was the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in Sri Lanka.[2] It took place from 5 to 23 December 2021.[3] There were plans to increase the number of teams from five to six, but Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed that five teams would take part, as per the first tournament.[4]
In June 2021, Charith Senanayake was appointed as the chairman of the LPL Technical Committee for the 2021 Lanka Premier League.[5] [6] In the same month, SLC agreed the termination of the Colombo Kings and the Dambulla Viiking teams due to financial issues.[7] SLC also confirmed that two new franchise teams would replace them.[8] The following month, SLC also terminated the franchise of the Jaffna Stallions.[9] Originally, the tournament was scheduled to be held between 30 July and 22 August 2021.[10] [11] On 9 July 2021, the tournament was rescheduled to be held from 19 November to 12 December 2021,[12] due to unavailability of overseas players.[13] In September 2021, Dambulla Viiking changed their name to Dambulla Giants after changing owners.[14] Jaffna Stallions also changed their name to Jaffna Kings later that month.[15] In October 2021, Kandy Tuskers changed their name to Kandy Warriors after announced as having new owners.[16] In November 2021, Colombo Kings changed their name to Colombo Stars after being acquired by a new owner.[17]
On 23 December 2021, Jaffna Kings beat Galle Gladiators by 23 runs in the final, to win their second successive LPL title.[18]
The player draft was held on 9 November 2021.[19] [20] On 29 November 2021, all the captains and coaches were confirmed.[21]
R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo and Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota were selected as the venues.
| Colombo | Hambantota | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| R. Premadasa Stadium | Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium | ||
| Capacity: 35,000 | Capacity: 34,300 | ||
| Matches: 20 | Matches: 4 | ||
| Team | Group matches | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=25 | 1 ! | width=25 | 2 ! | width=25 | 3 ! | width=25 | 4 ! | width=25 | 5 ! | width=25 | 6 ! | width=25 | 7 ! | width=25 | 8 ! | width=25 style="border-left:black solid 2px" | Q1/E ! | width=25 | Q2 ! | width=25 | F |
| L | |||||||||||||||||||||
| W | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Galle Gladiators | W | ||||||||||||||||||||
| L | |||||||||||||||||||||
The full schedule was published on 13 October 2021.[22]
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See main article: 2021 Lanka Premier League Final.
| Player | Team | Matches | Runs | High score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kusal Mendis | Galle Gladiators | 10 | 327 | |
| Avishka Fernando | Jaffna Kings | 10 | 312 | |
| Phil Salt | Dambulla Giants | 10 | 301 | |
| Tom Kohler-Cadmore | Jaffna Kings | 11 | 296 | 92 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | Colombo Stars | 9 | 277 | |
| Player | Team | Matches | Wickets | Best bowling | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samit Patel | 10 | 16 | 3/13 | ||
| Maheesh Theekshana | 10 | 16 | 4/25 | ||
| Jayden Seales | 7 | 15 | 4/13 | ||
| Imran Tahir | 10 | 15 | 3/20 | ||
| Seekkuge Prasanna | 8 | 13 | 3/31 |