With Krunal Pandya testing positive for COVID-19, eight other players in direct contact of him were also quarantined and will not be further available for the series.
India went into the ground on Wednesday (28th July) for the rescheduled second T20I of the series with the remaining eleven players available.
Sri Lanka won the game by 4 wickets, chasing a target of 133 with 2 deliveries to spare and levelled the series 1-1. Not only have the hosts kept themselves alive in the series but also have a chance to clinch the series, with the decider to be played on Thursday (29th July).
India had to deal with a number of injuries during the Australia tour earlier this year and eventually had to include the net bowlers into the squad. The situation seems similar here as the team lost 9 players due to risk of COVID and net bowlers were included into the main squad by BCCI to proceed with the series.
To make things worse for India, pacer Navdeep Saini had an injury while fielding in the second T20I. Team India’s bowling coach, Paras Mhambrey shared an update on Saini’s injury during the post-match press conference.
"In Navdeep's case, I think the medical team is handling him. We will assess the situation, maybe tonight or in the morning and take a decision accordingly," Mhambrey said.
"And I think, once the decision is finalised and conveyed to the selectors and the coach, I think we will go ahead and then if needed we need to make any changes, we will do that," the bowling coach added.
In case, Saini doesn't recover completely from his injury, we might see a net bowler getting an opportunity to debut in the series-decider.
The five net bowlers named in the main squad include Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore and Simarjeet Singh.
(Inputs from Firstpost)
