India agrees to shift 2015 in bound tour to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Cricket will look to maximally use the opportunity that has come their way by obliging India to play the five One Day Internationals that will begin from November 1.
Sri Lanka won their last ODI series against Pakistan at home and moved to the third place in the ICC Ranking
The five ODIs will be played in India between November 1 and 20. Secretary Sri Lanka cricket Nishantha Ranatunga speaking to the Sunday Times explained “Learning that the West Indian tour of India was in jeopardy when I was in Dubai for the ACC and ICC meetings I mentioned to the Indian authorities that if the current series which is going on in India is cancelled by chance we would be grateful to fill in the vacuum. Subsequently when the West Indian tour of India was cancelled we received a note from India with reference to our earlier request, inviting us to take part in a series there.”
The SLC officials will travel to India early next week to finalise the logistics of the tour. Ranatunga further explained “With our tight schedule upto the World Cup in mind, we have requested the Indian cricket authorities to organise the tour with minimum travelling and play the matches on locations that are in close proximity. Besides, also with the World Cup in mind we also requested that of wickets be prepared akin to that the Australian wickets so that both teams would be able to prepare for the challenges that are ahead of us.” Sri Lanka placed 4th in the world rankings in ODIs. India is ranked 3rd, with only 2 points separating the teams.
Apart from the short notice of the Indian tour windfall, Sri Lanka will benefit further with an Indian tour to Sri Lanka next year. Originally Sri Lanka were to tour India in August 2015 for a three Test series according to the amended Future Tours Programme.
“To reciprocate our gesture, India has agreed to shift that series to Sri Lanka so that the Lankan Board could get some financial benefit. If not India was to tour Sri Lanka only in 2017 July for a three Test, five ODI tour.”
West Indies decided to pull out of their India tour after Friday’s fourth ODI in Dharamsala. The dispute between the players and administration had emerged ahead of the first match of the series and no resolution was found despite several letters shuttling back and forth between the captain Dwayne Bravo, the WICB and WIPA.
Meanwhile SLC informs the 3rd ODI of the South Africa’s Women’s Tour of Sri Lanka 2014 which was scheduled to be played at NCC tomorrow 19th October 2014 has been changed to SSC.