Australia Tour Of Sri Lanka Expected To Go Ahead As Per Schedule
Sri Lanka as a country is grappling with the crisis at home. The country is in economic turmoil. It’s also lacking in certain basic essential commodities. It’s also struggling with a shortage of essential amenities. In such difficult times, according to recent developments, it has come out that Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka will go ahead as per schedule.
Australia is scheduled to tour Sri Lanka for a full-fledged 3 format series comprising of 3 T20Is, 5 ODIs, and 2 Tests.
Sri Lanka Cricket and Cricket Australia Are Confident Of That The Tour Will Go Ahead
Officials from both Sri Lanka cricket and Cricket Australia are positive about the tour taking place.
“At present, the tour will go on as planned. We will be looking at the developments in the next couple of days and decide what to do,” Mohan de Silva, the secretary of SLC, told Cricbuzz on Wednesday.
The on-ground situation in Sri Lanka is not great as the citizens have to deal with long hours of power cuts, there have been good shortages in the country etc. Several former Sri Lanka cricketers who are currently part of the IPL have expressed their anguish over the recent developments in their country.
The Australian Test side in the last couple of years has only toured Pakistan for a Test series as in the last Test Championship Cycle they cancelled their tours to South Africa and Bangladesh.
The tour is very important for Sri Lanka cricket as far as finances are concerned: “The overseas value of the tour is about USD 2 million. The internal media rights worth would be of about USD 300,000 and through ground advertisements and other sources of income, the Lanka Board can raise up to USD 3 million overall,” according to Cricbuzz.
The shortage of fuel and the lack of electricity is one of the major issues in the country right now, but according to Charith Senanayake, former manager of the national team that won’t be an issue.
“We have our own generators and we don’t depend on the government’s power. It will be a different case if there is a fuel shortage. The political situation has no bearing on the game and the SLC is always apolitical,” said Senanayake.
Currently, the main Australian players are involved in the IPL. The tour is still a month away so only time will tell if things improve in the Island nation or not.
