By Srian Obeyesekere
The sixth edition of the Lanka Premier League 2026 scheduled from July 17 to August 8 with more than 650 overseas players registered will once again be a major boost to promoting the game in Sri Lanka in the fast flying short fad format, a T20 version of the now famous Indian Premier League. Of the 650 registered it will be pruned down with 310 of them shortlisted for this year’s LPL.
Indeed, the LPL has proved to be a huge window particularly to upping local talent where players at the very village grassroots level have gained the opportunity of mingling and playing alongside and against reputed overseas players.
Such a family like umbrella in Sri Lanka Cricket bringing together local and international talent is viewed as one of the best things that could have happened for cricket in Sri Lanka at that level. Apart from the opportunity of being able to sharpen their game and gain in experience the LPL has also served in bettering the lot of local players in respect of handsome financial remuneration.
In such a vein, this year, the highest number of imported overseas talent will be from Pakistan with 102 players having registered for the sixth edition of the Lanka Premier League 2026.
Players from all ICC Full Member nations, as well as several Associate Member countries, are among those registered for the tournament.
Registrations have also been received from South Africa, the West Indies, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Australia and England for the mega tournament. What adds color to the showpiece are the daintily clad painted female cheer squads that shout themselves hoarse in adding to the adrenaline pumping extravaganza.
Meanwhile, also registered are a total of 75 players from the West Indies, 66 from South Africa, 48 from Bangladesh, 41 from New Zealand, 24 from Australia, 15 from England and 12 from India who have thrown their hats into the ring are among the registered players.
Among the Associate Member nations, the highest number of registrations were received from the USA, UAE and Ireland.
In total, players from 21 cricketing nations have registered for the draft. However, following the screening process, only 310 players from the total registrations will be shortlisted for the Lanka Premier League 2026 Player Draft, which will take place on June 1.
