India delay call on Sri Lanka tour amid travel restrictions

• Virat Kohli’s team are scheduled to play three one-day internationals (ODIs) and the same number of Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) in Sri Lanka.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will wait for more clarity on international travel restrictions before making a call on the limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka in July, a top board official told Reuters.

Virat Kohli’s team are scheduled to play three one-day internationals (ODIs) and the same number of Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) in Sri Lanka but the series is under threat due to measures imposed to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Nothing has been decided as yet, because we are not sure what would be the travel restrictions then,” BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal told Reuters by telephone. “There is no clarity about it. So we’ll wait for that and accordingly take a call.”

India has extended a nationwide lockdown to May 31 while all commercial flights in and out of Sri Lanka remain suspended at least until the end of the month.

Bangladesh are being similarly cautious for their three-Test series in Sri Lanka in July and August.

“We have to look at travelling restrictions in Bangladesh, and the quarantine protocols in both countries,” Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo. “We have to be mindful of the players’ readiness ... we have to figure out other details about this tour.”

Sri Lanka have already had to postpone home series against England and South Africa because of the global health crisis.