Team India is due to travel to Sri Lanka in July for a three-match ODI series followed by the same number of T20Is. Led by Shikhar Dhawan, the young side will face a unique challenge against the Islanders while the senior team will be busy with the five-match Test series against England.
Before the start of the series, the team will play three intra-squad matches in Colombo as a part of the preparation. Before that, the team will also undergo a 14-day quarantine in India, from June 14 (Monday) in Mumbai.
India to play intrasquad games in Colombo
The first seven days of quarantine will see cricketers undergo a strict schedule along with regular testing. The cricketers will be allowed to train indoors in the next seven days. As per reports, the team needed some practice games, which is not possible due to Covid-19. That is why the team went in with these intra-squad games.
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“The Indians wanted to play some warm-up games against the ‘A’ team or a team that could be arranged, but the COVID-19 protcols made that a little difficult and that is when a request went to BCCI to play intra-squad games. So, the Indian team will play one T20 game and two ODI games.
“The team will assemble on Monday and undergo 14 days of quarantine with regular testing. While the first seven days will be hard quarantine, the players can then train indoors for the next seven days before leaving will for Colombo,” a BCCI official told ANI.
The Indian team will undergo 3 more days of hard quarantine in Colombo before training in quarantine till July 4. After that, they will be allowed to train normally before the series gets underway on July 13.
“As per the plan, the team after reaching Colombo will be in hard quarantine for three days before starting to train in quarantine till July 4. Post this period they can train normally in the bubble till July 12 and also play the intra-squad games,” the official added.
The three ODIs will be played on July 13, 16, and 18. While the T20I series will commence on July 21, and the next two matches will be played on July 23 and 25.
