Amid suggestions and reports of squeezing in the IPL ahead of the T20 World Cup in October this year due to Coronavirus threat, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has indicated that India’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka is most likely to be postponed.
The global outbreak of coronavirus has ceased all major sporting activities around the world including the indefinite postponement of IPL for the first time since its inception. Though there has been no official word from BCCI yet, but a top BCCI official has confirmed Cricket Age that the Sri Lanka tour is very unlikely to take place as planned earlier.
The India cricket team is scheduled to tour Sri Lanka in June-July 2020 to play three One Day International (ODI) and three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches.
“At the moment, there are too many ifs and buts involved. Looking at Country’s situation at the moment in fighting against Coronavirus, the Sri lanka tour stands as non-starter” top BCCI official told Cricket Age.
In August, India plans to travel South Africa, in order to support the Proteas in overcoming with financial difficulties and BCCI is looking the tour as a stepping stone in return to field.
“Realistically, the board is targeting that tour of South Africa, as that series was ended prematurely in March, when they were in India. But again, even for that tour, we will have to wait at least until the end of May before finalizing everything” top BCCI official added further.
As on Friday, India’s total number of coronavirus positive cases rises to 24,942, including 18,953 active cases, 5210 cured/discharged/migrated and 779 deaths. The Indian government has extended the nationwide lockdown, which is scheduled to be lifted on May 3. However, due to the sudden surge in active cases in last one week, there are high chances that the lockdown will be extended once again.
