National anthems will no longer be sung in the Sri Lanka v India ODI series

The Sri Lankan team is struggling to keep Team India at bay in the home series. The Lankans were completely demolished 3-0 in the Test series and the visitors are now leading the 5-match ODI series 1-0. The hosts have failed to compete in either of the games and have been dominated by the strong Indian line-up.

The second ODI of the series is scheduled to be played on Thursday, at Pallekele. While it is also being reported that National Anthems will no longer be played before the games in the remaining ODIs of the series. As per reports, the Sri Lankan team’s media manager revealed that national anthems of the two countries will not be played ahead of the start of the remaining games in the series.

He also stated that in Sri Lanka, they follow a practice which states that the national anthem will be played only in the first match of any series. The tour started with the 1st Test match at Galle, where the National Anthems were played for both the nations, but according to the tradition, Anthems were not played in the second or the third Test matches.

“We have adopted the practice of singing National Anthem only at the beginning of each format of the game,” said Dinesh Ratnasingham, the Sri Lankan team’s media manager.

Anthems are the pride of the nations

It has been a long standing tradition to play the National Anthems of both the participating nations before the start of a match, not only in cricket but also in various other sports played across the world. The Anthem is considered as a symbol of pride and honour for a player who is representing his country in a particular sport. Surprisingly, both India and Sri Lanka’s (and also Bangladesh) National Anthems have been written by the legendary Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. He had written the Sri Lankan anthem in Bengali which was later translated in Sinhala, the Lankan local language.

“The practice of singing National Anthem was followed in the first ODI (on Sunday at Dambulla) and again it will be sung at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo before the commencement of the only T-20 match (6th September) on this tour. Rest of the venues will have immediate start of the match without the Anthem Ceremony,” the media manager further explained the matter.