After the postponement of IPL 2021, the focus of Indian fans now shifts to Team India’s upcoming assignments, including the limited-overs bilateral series against Sri Lanka.
While BCCI president Sourav Ganguly recently confirmed that India’s second-string team will tour the island nation in July, he didn’t enlighten about the fixtures and venues.
But according to a report published in Sportstar, R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will host the entire white-ball series, comprised of three ODIs and as many T20Is.
"We plan to host the entire series at one venue. As of now, it has been decided that the Premadasa Stadium will host the fixtures. Obviously, it depends on how the situation is around that time," Professor Arjuna de Silva, SLC's Administrative Committee chairman, told Sportstar on May 10.
The Indian cricket team is likely to arrive in Sri Lanka on July 5.
According to the SLC proposed itinerary - which the BCCI has approved - the ODI series is set to kick-start on July 13 after the visiting side completes its mandatory week-long quarantine. The T20I series will run from July 22-27.
"As of now, we will stick to the protocol where the players will have to undergo hard quarantine for the first three days and in the next four days, they will be allowed to train," de Silva said.
"However, if there are any revised guidelines by the health ministry around that time, we will have to follow that," he added.
In 2021, Sri Lanka have so far hosted England and Bangladesh successfully and De Silva is confident that things will go smoothly against India as well.
"During the series against England and Bangladesh, we took the help of the Sri Lanka Army commandos to maintain bubble security. We have all the help from the health ministry, with about 10 doctors taking care of the bubble, so our medical team is large. We followed a similar thing during the England series and that was successful, so we will stick to it. The situation, however, is fluid, but we hope to get things done smoothly," he said.
The COVID-19 situation might be under control in Sri Lanka, but it has been clarified that the entire series will be played behind closed doors.
"With the COVID situation fluid, we cannot allow fans yet, so all the matches will be closed-door affairs," De Silva said.
Leading names such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma won’t be part of the tour as they will be in England for the five-match Test series, slated to be held from August 4 to September 14.
The white ball series against Sri Lanka will also allow the selectors to carry out experiments, like whether it will be Chahal, Rahul Chahar or Rahul Tewatia for the leg-break bowler’s slot and if Chetan Sakariya can be tried as left-arm option.
It could also open up the doors for Devdutt Padikkal, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan to stake their claims in the limited-overs side.
Itinerary for India’s tour of Sri Lanka 2021:
ODI series: July 13, 16, 19
T20I series: July 22, 24, 27.
Venue: R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
