SLC requests BCCI to consider Sri Lanka tour in July

India is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka for three one-dayers and as many T20 internationals in June-July.

The cancellation of the tour would hit SLC hard financially. - GETTY IMAGES (REPRESENTATIVE)

Sri Lanka Cricket has requested the BCCI to seriously consider India’s tour of Sri Lanka for its scheduled series in July.

India is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka for three one-dayers and as many T20 internationals in June-July. The tour is currently under threat due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a report published in The Island , SLC has indicated its willingness to play the limited-overs series in late July in an email and are awaiting a reply from BCCI. “Sri Lanka Cricket has sent an e-mail to their counterparts at Board of Control for Cricket in India requesting the possibility of resuming bilateral cricket later in July,” the report said.

According to the report, an official said that “they would have to follow strict quarantine rules and the series might take place behind closed doors considering the safety of fans.” However the BCCI is clear that unless there were clear directives from the government and proper travel advisories in place, they wouldn’t be able to commit to anything.

England’s tour of Sri Lanka for a three-Test series was cancelled in mid-March after the outbreak of the pandemic in the middle of the second warm-up game of the tour. If the India tour doesn’t happen, it would further hit the SLC hard financially.

Sri Lanka had earlier offered to host the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which was indefinitely suspended by the BCCI due to the pandemic.