Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka officially postponed

Sri Lankan cricketers at Pallekelle in their training camp 

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Bangladesh national cricket team’s tour of Sri Lanka in July/August for the three ICC (International Cricket Council) Test series was officially postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Bangladesh national cricket team is yet to return to training as a team. Sri Lanka on the other hand are in the Central Hills with their second outdoor training camp, as the situation in Sri Lanka is far better compared to Bangladesh as the pandemic has been carefully managed 

to date.

The teams were supposed to play three test matches in Galle, Colombo and Kandy during the one-month tour, which will take place at a later date. The Indian tour of Sri Lanka, which was postponed previously, will also be played at a later date, with 3 one day matches and an equal number of T20 matches.

Sri Lanka, already having postponed tours by South Africa, India, and Bangladesh, are looking to host the Local Premier League (LPL) which is scheduled to start on 8 August and will go on for 2 weeks. The Ministry of Sports has already given the green-light for this 5-team event, which is expected to attract many overseas players and which will be played in Hambantota, Colombo, Dambulla and Kandy. This will be an ideal preparation for the national cricket team, who will be hosting the Asia Cup 2020 in Sri Lanka in September, with 6 teams participating in the showpiece of Asian Cricket, to be played in a T20 format. Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong will lock horns in the round robin event, which will see the top 4 qualifying for the semi-finals and later the grand final. India are the defending champions in 

this event.