Former Sri Lanka captain and batting legend Mahela Jayawardene hailed Team India for completing their tour by playing the last two T20Is despite missing several players due to the covid-19 outbreak in their camp.
On Tuesday, the day of the second T20I, Krunal Pandya returned a positive test for the virus. 8 other players who were deemed to be in his close contact were placed in isolation leaving the visitors with 11 available players in the main squad, 5 of which were batsmen and 6 bowlers.
Despite a weakened available squad, and an imbalanced team, Shikhar Dhawan and coach Rahul Dravid decided to continue the tour. India lost the second and third T20I, thus the series after winning the first match. This was Sri Lanka’s first-ever bilateral T20I series win over the subcontinent giants.
Mahela Jayawardene applauded the visitors for their cooperation in continuing the series. He also heaped praise for the home side, who had endured losses against Bangladesh, a complete annihilation in England, and an ODI series loss to Sri Lanka. He attested this series win as a confidence-building one and was happy to see the commitment by the players.
“Confident building series win for @OfficialSLC last night. More hard work ahead but good to see passion and commitment. Lot of admiration for @SDhawan25 and his team in which trying times how they conducted and played with pride,” Mahela Jayawardene tweeted.
Confident building series win for @OfficialSLC last night. More hard work ahead but good to see passion and commitment. Lot of admiration for @SDhawan25 and his team in which trying times how they conducted and played with pride. ?
— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) July 30, 2021
Yuzvendra Chahal, Krishnappa Gowtham test positive for Covid-19
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and off-spinning all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham have returned positive Covid-19 results in Sri Lanka on Friday (July 30). The two players and Krunal Pandya will remain in Sri Lanka to complete their quarantine.
Four other players – Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Deepak Chahar, and Ishan Kishan – who were among the eight along with Chahal and Gowtham to isolate earlier will return home with the rest of the Indian squad on Friday afternoon.
The pair of Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav, both of whom are added to India’s Test squad in England, are staying back in Colombo and will fly out to England soon to join the Test contingent.
Krunal is expected to stay for another week while Chahal and Gowtham for a 10-day period before they can return home.