The officials in Colombo said on Thursday that India has formally called-off their limited-overs cricket series in Sri Lanka owing to the on-going coronavirus pandemic. Team India was due to play three One-Day Internationals (ODI) and three T 20 International matches starting this month. But the schedule went for a toss because of the health crisis.
Sri Lanka’s cricket board said, “The cricket series… will not be feasible.” It quoted its Indian counterpart saying that they would need to take advice from their government and health authorities before they take a decision to resume cricketing. Sri Lanka, which has reported 11 deaths from virus and some 1,873 infections, has eased some of the lockdown measures, but a night curfew continues nationwide.
Team India toured Sri Lanka back in 2017, they played three Test matches, five ODIs, and one T20I and made a clean sweep of all the matches.
However, India will be touring Australia later this year to play five Test matches against the Kangaroos.
Meanwhile, clouds of doubt hover over the upcoming T20 World Cup that will be held down under later this year. There have been speculations that the T20 World Cup might get postponed to 2021 and the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be taking its slot.
The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) is trying all possible ways to conduct the 13th season of the IPL and they have even considered playing the matched behind the closed doors.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has issued guidelines that every player and team staff will have to adhere to while playing the game and also after and before that. The council has already banned the use of saliva to shine the ball as a safety measure against the COVID-19 infection.