Deliberation on venues for Sri Lanka home series
There are no takers for the 3-match Test series scheduled to take place in November later during the year.
Sri Lanka are scheduled to play a return leg in India later during the year. The tour will kick start with a 3-match Test series but none of the state associations seem to be keen to host any of the Test matches. This is known to be the main point of discussion in the BCCI’s tours, fixtures and programmes committee meeting in Kolkata on Tuesday.
No takers for Test matches, keen interest for ODIs & T20I
One of the main reasons for the disinterest is the lack of presence of star players in the Sri Lankan ranks which wouldn’t motivate crowds to catch the action live at a stadium. The other reason could be the fall out of India’s extended long home Test season last year. As many as 13 Tests were played in a period of six months. This period coincided with Supreme Court’s decision of freezing the accounts of various state associations, who failed to comply with the Lodha panel recommendations. As a result, most of the associations hosted games by spending money from their own pockets with some of them still waiting to be reimbursed back by the BCCI.
However, associations have shown a keen interest in hosting ODIS and T20Is. A top board official denied that the long home Test season is the reason for the disinterest amongst associations to host the series.
“I wouldn’t call it as an implication of hosting too many Tests last season. Rather, it is because Sri Lanka isn’t the team it is used to be and the team hardly has any star player who will bring fans to the stadium. So, it is understandable that most of them are not keen on hosting the Tests,” said the official.
ODI series against Australia, New Zealand curtailed
Sri Lanka are scheduled to tour India in the months of November and December. After the 3-test series, the Islanders will play a 3-match ODI and T20I series before flying back home on December 24.
It is been said that the Australian ODI series has been reduced to a 5-match series instead of the scheduled 7. Both teams will face-off in 2 T20Is instead, which would be a good gate money collection. Similarly, the New Zealand side will play 3 ODIs and as many T20Is as against the planned five.
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