The Sri Lanka board had to delay the upcoming players' draft for their much-awaited Lanka Premier League T20 tournament. The country's cricket board confirmed on Thursday that the Sri Lanka Premier League draft is postponed because of a recent COVID-19 outbreak.

Many sporting events have been affected because of the pandemic this year and seem like Sri Lanka Premier League is going to be one of them. The draft of the T20 league has names of cricketing stars like Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Darren Bravo, Shahid Afridi, and Shakib Al Hasan. 

As per reports of AFP, more than 1,000 workers at one factory near the capital Colombo tested positive in just 72 hours this week, and for the safety of people, the government has locked down some regions and banned public gatherings.

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"The 'Player Draft' will not go ahead as planned, owing to the current health situation," governing body Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said in a statement.

The draft is currently rescheduled to October 19, and SLC will be closely monitoring the health situation for the next few days. Sri Lanka Premier League, which was set to be played in August, is already postponed twice. It was moved to November 14 and then November 21.

The country has reported almost 4,500 coronavirus infections and 13 related deaths so far. 

Bangladesh has already called off their Test series in Sri Lanka and their reason was too many restrictions in the host country.

(With AFP Inputs)