BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal explains why India is touring Sri Lanka in July

India will be up against New Zealand in the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship from June 18 to June 22 followed by a five-match series against England, starting from August 4. In between the India tour of England, a different Indian team will travel to Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series which is most likely happen in July

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) treasurer Arun Dhumal opened up on the reasons why it is important for India to tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs format. Dhumal reckoned that BCCI made the call as the Sri Lanka tour was a part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) and it is necessary to conduct all the postponed series so that the cricket board can solve the financial crisis. 

“See as you know the cricket world is under tremendous pressure for the last one-and-a-half year given this COVID pandemic, a lot of FTP has been cancelled which has put a lot of strains on these associations all over the world. Until and unless you do these tours, we can’t make up, and it would be very difficult for all these boards to come out of the financial struggle that they are going through,” said Arun Dhumal while speaking to Sportskeeda.

India missed the Sri Lanka tour last year too

Further in the interaction, Dhumal hailed India’s reserves saying that the team’s bench strength is commendable and that allowed BCCI to agree for two series simultaneously. Also, the Indian board had to think about Sri Lanka too as their previous tour to the island nation, which was scheduled for 2020, was postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

“We had to miss the Sri Lanka tour last year also. So, we need to work out on that and since our team that is going to England is primarily for Tests, we could have made up a team for these white-ball matches. So, that is why we thought we should do our bit to make sure Sri Lankan board and we can play white-ball cricket in time,” added Arun Dhumal.

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