Sri Lanka Cricket on Monday (July 27) announced that its longstanding dream, the Lankan Premier League, will finally be held from August this year. 

The board also confirmed the window for the tournament, stating it will begin on August 28 and run until September 20. 

Read Also: Bangladesh team likely to tour Sri Lanka for three Tests in October

"The 23 match league will be played on the 4 international venues of R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, RangiriDambullau International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium. 5 Teams named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna will participate in the League," SLC said in a media release. 

"Over 70 International players and 10 top-notch coaches have already confirmed their availability to take part in this Tournament along with leading Sri Lankan national players."

However, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, few things remain unanswered, including the participation of overseas players and whether Sri Lankan health authorities were making an exception to quarantine rules for visiting players.

Currently, all those who enter the Island nation amid the pandemic are required to go into quarantine for two weeks at centres managed by the state and then self-isolate for another period of 14 days. 

Sri Lanka government did announce plans to reopen the country's international airports for tourists from August 1. But that was held back fearing a second wave of health infections during this period. 

The first positive case in Sri Lanka was reported on January 27 of a Chinese woman tourist. Since then over 2,800 infections, including deaths have been observed. 

Sri Lanka's two-match Test series against England was suspended in March and so were the scheduled visits from South Africa, India and Bangladesh. 

(Inputs from AFP)