Sri Lanka vs India new start date: The first ODI between Sri Lanka and India is expected to be played a few days later from the original start date.
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SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket) and BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) are reported to be working on the revised fixtures of the ongoing India’s tour of Sri Lanka 2021.
The change in itinerary is a ramification of positive COVID-19 cases in the Sri Lankan team which has returned from England. As of now, batting coach Grant Flower and team analyst GT Niroshan have both contacted the delta variant of coronavirus.
Having played a couple of intra-squad warm-up match in Colombo, India were scheduled to face Sri Lanka in the first ODI on July 13. The second and the third ODI were originally scheduled to happen on July 16 and 18 respectively.
The white-ball tour also comprises of three T20Is which were slated to be played on July 21, 23 and 25 respectively.
Sri Lanka vs India new start date 2021
While the two boards are yet to make a formal announcement, the revised scheduled proposal sees the ODI series getting postponed to July 17 (Saturday). According to ESPNcricinfo, the second and third ODI will now be played on July 19 (Monday) and 21 (Wednesday) respectively.
As far as the T20I series is concerned, it will now culminate a couple of days later on July 27. As per the proposed schedule, the three T20Is will be played on July 24, 25 and 27.
The times we live in! No series is on till it actually begins. Now Sri Lanka-India to get pushed back because of cases in the SL team returning from England. Increasingly the only way to play is to have a strict bubble; won’t be surprised if England is forced to go that way again
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 9, 2021
If further reports are to be believed, there’s also a possibility of Sri Lanka playing with a second-string team (especially in the ODI series) to lengthen the quarantine period of players returning from England.
The last time that India had toured Sri Lanka was in 2018 for the Nidahas Trophy. As far as their last bilateral tour of Sri Lanka is concerned, India had played three Tests, five ODIs and a T20I in 2017.
India vs Sri Lanka Match Schedule 2021*
1st ODI – July 18.
2nd ODI – July 20.
3rd ODI – July 23.
1st T20I – July 25.
2nd T20I – July 27.
3rd T20I – July 29.
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- Story was updated after an official confirmation on July 10.
