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Sri Lanka cricketers have a busy international schedule during 2021
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Sri Lanka Cricket has drawn up a heavy international schedule at home for the year 2021, where they are due to host England, Bangladesh, Ireland, India, South Africa, Scotland and Afghanistan and also stage the 15th ACC Asia Cup.
Six of the eight Tests they are scheduled to host are at home against England (two) and Bangladesh (three), both of which are part of the ICC World Test Championship, and Ireland (one).
The fixture against Ireland is a one-off Test scheduled to take place in May. It will be the first ever Test match between the two countries after Ireland was elevated to the ranks of a full ICC member in June 2017.
With the ICC World Twenty20 scheduled to be held in India in October-November 2021, the focus of matches have been largely concentrated on T20Is with the Asia Cup which regularly feature 50-over games being converted into T20I matches.
The ICC took a decision that Asia Cup events from 2016 would be played on a rotation basis between ODIs and T20Is format, on the basis of the format of upcoming world events. As a result the 2016 Asia Cup was the first event played in the T20I format and functioned as a preparatory tournament ahead of the 2016 ICC World Twenty20. The 2021 version will be the second to be run on a T20I format.
The inbound tours by England, Bangladesh, India and South Africa are rescheduled ones from 2020. These tours were postponed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, Sri Lanka will play a total of eight Tests, 15 ODIs and 12 T20Is in bilateral series during the year.
The 2021 calendar also includes the Lanka Premier League (LPL) T20 Season 2 scheduled for July-August and the inaugural Sri Lanka T10 which winds off the year in December.
Sri Lanka’s international cricket fixtures for 2021
