Even as India’s tour of Sri Lanka is yet to be officially announced by either the country’s cricket board, the official TV broadcaster put out the schedule of two limited-overs cricket series on social media on Tuesday. The tour will begin on July 13 with the first ODI and end on July 25 with the third and final T20 International, according to the schedule.
“Indian waves will crash against the Sri Lankan shore with #JeetneKiZid [emoticons: water wave, flag of India] tour of [emoticon: flag of Sri Lanka] #SirfSonyPeDikhega!,” tweeted broadcaster Sony Sports India.
” Starting 13th July. Television Sony TEN 1, Sony TEN 3, Sony TEN 4, Sony SIX,” added the tweet.
The tour will begin with a three-match ODI series. The ODIs will be played on July 13, 16 and 18. The ODI series will be followed by a three-match T20 International series on July 21, 23 and 25.
The tour will be undertaken by India’s white-ball cricket specialists like Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Hardik Pandya among others. The Test side, led by Virat Kohli, is currently visiting England and will be preparing for the five-Test series against England during that period.
There has been no confirmation of the trip from either the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and it has been learnt that it is still in the pipeline.
“The BCCI is yet to officially tell the Sri Lankan board that they are willing to undertake the tour. That is the reason why neither board has made an official announcement even though the series is just about a month away,” said a source in the know of things.
The only statement from BCCI came from its president Sourav Ganguly, who mentioned in May that India will tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series in July. Apart from that, there has been no official intimation.
The Sri Lanka white-ball team will leave for England on June 9 for a limited-overs series. The England tour, which comprises three ODIs and three T20Is, ends on July 4 with the third and final T20I. The Sri Lankans will have a week to recover from the series.
