SL government gives green signal to host series as players test COVID negative: Reports

The Sri Lankan government has given a green signal on Sunday, July 11 to host the limited-overs series against India which is set to begin on July 18. The series was slightly under doubt, as two members of the Lankan team had tested positive upon arrival in Sri Lanka. Before the six white-ball matches, Sri Lanka had travelled to England to play limited-overs series.

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During that particular series, seven England members were tested positive for the COVID-19, which made the Lankan team a bit jittery. Upon arrival to Sri Lanka, the board put the players in two groups with one living in Dambulla and the other staying in Colombo. Apart from that, the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) also arranged to RT PCR test for all the players and took all possible safety precautions.

Now with players finally getting negative results, the government has finally given clearance and the series is all set to begin on July 18.

The Shikhar Dhawan-led India squad is ready to take on the Lankan Lions in the six white-ball matches. The 20- member squad is a fairly young one, with six uncapped players in it. Head coach for the tour, Rahul Dravid recently spoke about giving fringe players a chance ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

With the likes of Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Varun Chakravarthy, Chetan Sakariya, and Prithvi Shaw in the team, the young players would like to showcase their talent and impress the selectors. Apart from that, even skipper Dhawan will look to score some runs under his belt and be in the reckoning for the shortest format.