SLC drops plans to emulate IPL

Sri Lanka's cricket authorities Thursday shelved long-delayed plans for a Twenty20 competition akin to the massively lucrative Indian Premier League, instead announcing a local tournament with no foreign players.

With an eye on the billions of dollars and millions of viewers drawn to the IPL, the island nation launched its own premier league in 2012 but the competition was a flop, lasting just one edition.

Sri Lanka Cricket had hoped to revive the tournament, modelled on the short-format competition that has lured international stars like England's Ben Stokes and the West Indies' Chris Gayle to India.

But a board official said the plans had been scrapped and replaced by the Sri Lanka Cricket T20 League, which would feature exclusively local players.