India Tour of Sri Lanka: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah confirmed that the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka has been postponed and will begin on July 18 instead of July 13 due to COVID-19 cases in the Sri Lanka camp. A day after Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) put forward a proposal to reschedule the series, Shah confirmed the development to ANI.
“The India-Sri Lanka ODI series will start on July 18 due to coronavirus cases in Sri Lanka camp,” Jay Shah told ANI.
India-Sri Lanka ODI series to start by July 18, due to #COVID19 cases in the Sri Lankan camp: BCCI Secy Jay Shah to ANI
(Pic: Jay Shah Twitter) pic.twitter.com/1Af9xQ9vXD
— ANI (@ANI) July 10, 2021
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) are anxiously waiting for updates on COVID-19 results after the first team’s performance analyst GT Niroshan tested positive following batting coach Grant Flower’s positive test. With the entire first-team quarantined and the series against India postponed by four days (due to start on July 17 instead of July 13), SLC secretary Mohan de Silva said the board could be forced to field an alternate team if any more positive cases emerge.
| India’s tour of Sri Lanka, 2021 – ODI series | |||
| S.No. | Date | Match | Venue |
| 1 | 18th July | 1st ODI | Colombo |
| 2 | 20th July | 2nd ODI | Colombo |
| 3 | 23rd July | 3rd ODI | Colombo |
| India’s tour of Sri Lanka, 2021 – T20I series | |||
| S.No. | Date | Match | Venue |
| 1 | 25th July | 1st T20I | Colombo |
| 2 | 27th July | 2nd T20I | Colombo |
| 3 | 29th July | 3rd T20I | Colombo |
As per Sri Lanka’s Daily FT, SLC Secretary Mohan de Silva said that “in the event that there are more positive cases leading up to the first ODI on 17 July, they were preparing to field an alternate team from the squads that are practising in Dambulla and in Colombo and are in a bio-bubble.”
India Tour of Sri Lanka: SLC Secretary declares, ‘anymore positive test will lead us to field an alternate team against India’
India Tour of Sri Lanka – India vs Sri Lanka ODI: The idea is not far-fetched as the SLC has already placed two different teams in bio-bubble. Apart from the first team in quarantine, another set of players are training in bio-bubble in Dambulla while the others are in Colombo. Hence, if more players test positive, they could field an entirely new team like the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has done against Pakistan.
“All players of the team have tested negative, but we are mindful of the fact that the team’s batting coach & data analyst tested positive and for that reason, we are likely to reschedule the series”, confirmed Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary Mohana De Silva to InsideSport on Friday.
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