30 Sri Lankan Cricketers Shortlisted For India Series Sign Tour Contracts

About 30 Sri Lankan cricketers have agreed and signed the tour contracts for the upcoming home ODI and T20I series against India. These players were shortlisted by the board as they host the neighbours for 3 ODIs, starting July 13, followed by 3 T20Is, concluding on July 25; all the games to be played in Colombo.

Earlier reports came that about 5 Sri Lankan cricketers – Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Ashen Bandara, and Kasun Rajitha – were left out of the pre-series camp and the bio-bubble as they denied signing the contract.

Now, in the latest report, the players have agreed to the temporary terms of the tour contract as the Sri Lanka Cricket board amends their newly created central contracts that were refused by the players.

“The impasse relating to contracts is over after 30 shortlisted for India series including those who toured England signed tour contracts making themselves available for series. Would be interesting to see what happens now on. Some promising young players may have burned bridges,” Sports Journalist Rex Clementine said.

However, it still remains unclear whether senior cricketers Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne, who were left out of the England tour, were offered the tour contract for the India series. Test players who are not shortlisted for the India overs were not offered the tour contracts, according to NewsWire.

Sri Lankan contingent wait for covid-19 results after news of English players testing positive

Sri Lanka’s white-ball squad which lost the T20I and ODI series to England remain in an “anxious” state as they wait for their covid-19 results on returning home, following the news of 7 English players and staff members testing positive for the virus after the final match of their tour in Bristol on Sunday.

The entire England contingent was forced into isolation on Tuesday after a number of positive Covid tests were reported, with an entirely new 18-man squad called up for the ODI series against Pakistan starting on Thursday.

“We arrived here [in Colombo] and we haven’t been allowed to enter our rooms without the result of a rapid antigen test, which luckily, I think most of our squad have got through. We’ve done another PCR where the results come out tomorrow [Wednesday].

“At the end of that ODI there was a fair amount of banter between the two teams – quite a lot of chat and quite a lot of talk – so it did bring about some anxious times,” Mickey Arthur, Sri Lanka’s head coach, told talkSPORT’s Following On podcast.