India’s limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka, involving three ODIs and three T20Is, will now be played between July 18 and July 29, the BCCI confirmed. As per original schedule, the six white-ball games were to be played between July 13 and July 25.
That there will be a change in the dates was first reported by Cricbuzz on Friday (July 9), the reason being the outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the Sri Lankan camp that just returned from England. Team’s batting coach Grant Flower and video analyst GT Niroshan had tested positive.
“Yes, there is a new schedule for the matches in Sri Lanka,” confirmed Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary. The Sri Lanka board officials called the BCCI secretary on Saturday (July 10) morning with the revised schedule for approval. The dates for all the games are expected to be announced soon.
Interestingly enough, the Indian team management, which has been strictly following the Covid protocols, was not aware of the planned change till late Friday [July 9] night.
The SLC has also tried to contact the broadcaster, Sony Sports, which has been promoting the series for the last one month. In an ideal scenario, the broadcasters would have preferred the old dates, from July 13 to 26, given that only a couple of games would have overlapped with the Olympic Games, which start on July 23. But in the scenario of pandemic, all parties have agreed for the rescheduling.