Schedule for India's tour of Sri Lanka released

With all eyes fixed on the World Test Championship final and the subsequent England series, it is easy to forget that another Indian unit is set to tour Sri Lanka for six white-ball games at the same time in what is going to be one of the rare occurrences of two national teams participating in different series at the same time.

Thanks to the vast pool of talent spread across the length and breadth of the country, India is set to pull off a rather interesting feat as it embarks on a three-match ODI and T20I series in the Island nation, beginning 13^th July with the first ODI. The remaining ODIs will be played on July 16 and 18, respectively, followed by the T20Is on July 21, 23 and 25.

The schedule of the tour was announced on Monday by Sony Sports India, who took to Twitter and posted, Indian waves will crash against the Sri Lankan shore with #JeetneKiZid. The venue for the games is yet to be announced.

India has not played Sri Lanka since 2018 when the two featured in the Nidahas Trophy. Meanwhile, before the home tour against India, Sri Lanka is set to face England in an away series – currently in jeopardy as the players have denied signing the tour contracts – including three T20Is and as many ODIs, scheduled between June 23 to July 4.

Majority of India’s first-choice players to miss Sri Lanka tour

With as many as 20 Indian players in the UK already, India is likely to field a so-called second-string squad, which could be led by either Shikhar Dhawan or Hardik Pandya.

So-called, as despite the absence of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and a few others fulfilling their UK duties, India still has the likes of Dhawan, Pandya, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and more available to take care of the Sri Lankan tour.

Keeping the Covid-19 situation in mind, it is highly unlikely that the series will witness crowds back in the stadium. Also, the Indian players will have to serve a week-long quarantine, including three days of hard quarantine at the start, before they are allowed to train and practice inside the bio-secure environment.

With India’s head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling and batting coach Bharat Arun and Vikram Rathour busy with the UK contingent, Rahul Dravid is likely to fulfil the duties of the team coach on the Sri Lanka tour.

Indian waves will crash against the Sri Lankan shore with #JeetneKiZid 🌊
🇮🇳 tour of 🇱🇰, #SirfSonyPeDikhega!

🗓️ Starting 13th July
📺 Sony TEN 1, Sony TEN 3, Sony TEN 4, Sony SIX#SLvIND #INDvSL #SonySports #Cricket pic.twitter.com/P3ZeGTjDXl

— Sony Sports (@SonySportsIndia) June 7, 2021