India's Sri Lanka Tour Schedule Revised, Start Pushed Back By A Day

BCCI announced the revised schedule for the upcoming India's tour to Sri Lanka which will mark as the first assignment for newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir. The Men in Blue will play three T20s in Pallakele and as many ODIs in Colombo.

Mumbai (Maharashtra): The schedule of India's upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka has been revised, and the start of the contest pushed back by a day to July 27, the Board of Control For Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Saturday.

Men in Blue will play three T20s at Pallekele and as many ODIs at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo during their tour to the Island nation.

Originally, the BCCI had announced that the T20I series will start from July 26. But, as per the revised schedule, the first T20 will be played on July 27, the second T20 will be played on July 28 and the third and final T20 will be played on July 30 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. All the T20 matches will begin at 7 PM IST.

The ODis, initially scheduled to start on August 1, will now begin on August 2, followed by the remaining matches on August 4 and August 7, with all the games to be held at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. This tour will be the first assignment for new head coach Gautam Gambhir, who succeeds Rahul Dravid.

If the reports are to be believed, the veteran batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who announced their retirement from T20Is with the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2024, may not travel to Sri Lanka for the ODI tour to focus on red-ball cricket.

With plenty of players leading India across formats, it will be interesting to see who will lead the Men in Blue in the upcoming if Rohit pulls his name out of the tour. However, Hardik Pandya is the leading contender to replace Rohit at the helm in his absence. The Sri Lankans will have a new man at the helm of affairs in Sanath Jayasuriya, who has been named as the interim head coach and a new T20I captain after Wanindu Hasaranga stepped down from the captaincy post-T20 World Cup.

Notably, it will be India's first white-ball bilateral trip to the Island nation since 2021. Dravid was the stand-in coach then, with Shikhar Dhawan leading a second-string side. India had won both the T20I and ODI series on that occasion.

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