A top BCCI official Sunday said that India’s tour of Sri Lanka for the white-ball series in June-July is impossible to happen at present. Speaking to IANS, the official revealed that some of the players are stuck in Mumbai and Bengaluru and also doubted if they will be allowed to travel to some other country.
“I would say it is close to impossible at present. Firstly, we need to take one step at a time in the current scenario and you do realize that some of our players are stuck in Mumbai and Bengaluru — two zones which are highly affected by the pandemic,” the official told IANS.
“Without even going into the question on whether the Indian team would travel without the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma among others, I would say will international travel be permissible? So, we all need to wait and watch how things unfold,” he added.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), on Friday, had written an email to BCCI regarding the upcoming series. In its email, the board hoped that Team India will tour the island nation for three ODIs and three T20Is that are to take place in June and July. In reply, BCCI said that it is open to playing there.
“It all depends on government directives pertaining to lockdown relaxations and travel restrictions. We are open to travel if it doesn’t compromise safety and health of our boys,” Dhumal had written in reply.
Cricket Age had published on April 25 itself, quoting a top BCCI official, that the Board has indicated that India’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka will most likely be postponed.
“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” the top BCCI official had told Cricket Age on April 15.
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 at that time.
India is presently observing final day of the third phase of lockdown, while the next phase has already been announced by the government and given the present scenario, none of the sporting boards is expected to be given permission to resume training. Hence, Indian cricketers might continue to stay at their homes for another few weeks.
Since none of the players have played any competitive cricket since March, they will need to train for a few weeks before returning to international cricket. BCCI can only take a call once it hears something from the government of India. As the official said, the series is close to impossible at the moment.
