The inaugural edition of the Mahindra Sri Lanka Premier League has been a success, the company said in the capital on Wednesday. Within a span of a month, the Mahindra SLPL created entertainment for the people in the Emerald Island and produced two talented young national players for the Sri Lankan team for the ICC T-20 World Cup to be held in September.
The 19-year-old off-spinner Akhila Dhananjaya and 23-year-old Dilshan Munaweera have been rewarded with a place in the Lankan national T20 World Cup team after their impressive performances in the SLPL, the final of which will be played in Colombo on Thursday.
Sandiip Bhammer, chairman of Somerset Entertainment Ventures, which has the rights to market and organise the Mahindra SLPL, said that the League had promoted talent.
“Sri Lanka has been starved of live entertainment. The Mahindra SLPL has been successful in providing families the chance to watch explosive cricket.
“We have, thus, succeeded in providing a platform for making cricket a source of entertainment rather than entertainment as the source of entertainment in Lanka.
“Besides, the focus of our partners SLC has always been on providing a high quality sports platform and we were only brought in to enhance that vision.”
Commenting on the cricketing success of the Mahindra SLPL, Bhammer said the selection of Munaweera and Dhananjay into the Sri Lankan team was just the tip of the iceberg.