IND v SL 2022: Sri Lanka To Begin India Tour With T20Is; Bengaluru To Host Second Test Under Lights

The upcoming Sri Lanka tour to India will begin with the T20I series first after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seemingly accepted the request of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Board to tweak the itinerary a bit to ensure a smooth bubble to bubble transfer.

The Sri Lankan side will be coming off a T20I series against Australia at home and here the Indian team will finish off their West Indies sojourn with three T20Is in Kolkata. However, the dates for the same are being tweaked at the moment and the final schedule will be announced in due time.

The first two T20Is are expected to be played at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium (HPCA) in Dharamsala, while the third and final T20I will be played in the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium (PCA) in Mohali.

Bengaluru To Host A Day-Night Test; Virat Kohli To Miss Out On Playing His 100^th Test In M Chinnaswamy Stadium

Apart from the last T20I match, the Mohali Stadium in Punjab will also host the first Test match. Thanks to the prevalent winter, the BCCI is now ready to give Mohali a day-night Test match due to the problem of fog and excess dew on the ground under lights.

This means the second and final Test match of the Sri Lanka tour will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru with the pink ball under lights, which recently upgraded its floodlights. Another reason for the change as per a Karnataka State Cricket Association official is Bengaluru offers direct connectivity to Colombo, which would then allow Sri Lanka to fly home without a stopover.

This will also mean that former India captain Virat Kohli might miss out on playing his 100^th Test in Bengaluru, as previously scheduled. It was expected that Kohli will play this milestone match in Bengaluru which is the home of his IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore and he shares a great fan following in the city.

BCCI hosted its first pink-ball day-night Test match against Bangladesh in Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 2019 which India won. Incidentally, it was the last time Virat Kohli scored a century in any international format. The next day-night match was played against England at Ahmedabad in 2021, which India again won in three days, with Akshar Patel demolishing the visitors on a square turner picking 11 wickets.

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