Sri Lanka Cricket applauds Rahul Dravid for completing India tour despite Covid-19 affecting team

Sri Lanka Cricket applauded Rahul Dravid for completing India’s tour of the country despite the Covid-19 affecting the Indian contingent. Rahul Dravid led a second-string team from India for a three-match ODI and T20I streak against Sri Lanka.

While the ODI series went off without a hitch, the T20I series was severely affected as Indian player Krunal Pandya contacted the virus during the tour.

Krunal Pandya was found positive for Covid-19 after the completion of 1^st T20I. As a result, the 2^sd The T20I match has been postponed for one day. While Pandya was quarantined after testing positive for Covid, 8 other Indian players were sent into strict isolation for having been in close contact with Pandya.

As a result, only 11 players from India‘s 20-man squad were available for the final two matches of T20I. Despite such a difficult situation, Rahul Dravid continued to play with the remaining players in the other two matches.

If Rahul Dravid wanted, he could have easily brought the team back to India: SLC advice

In a conversation with Cricbuzz, Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary Mohan de Silva praised Indian coach Rahul Dravid for his efforts to complete the series.

“If he wanted to, he could easily have brought the team back to India. The most encouraging aspect of the whole Pandya episode was the role of the support staff of the Indian team, led by Rahul. If he wanted to, he could easily have brought the team back to India. He was very accommodating and understood the situation. He appreciated our efforts and realized that we were doing our best to protect the boys from the dangers of the virus with all biosafety guidelines, ”said de Silva.

Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary also thanked BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah for adding three T20I matches on the India tour. The previous tour only included three ODIs, but BCCI have added a three-match T20I series at the request of Sri Lanka Cricket. De Silva informed that the tour proved to be very valuable to them financially.

“It was a very, very valuable tour for us. We have been waiting for it for a long time. We were very grateful to the top BCCI officers – Jay Shah and Sourav Ganguly – for granting our request to play three additional T20Is. Originally, the tour only involved three ODIs. This enhanced the commercial value of the entire tour. We ended up making almost $ 14.5 million. It’s a huge boost to our finances, ”said de Silva.

The three-game ODI series was won by India, while the team led by Shikhar Dhawan won the 1^st and 2^sd ODI. However, Sri Lanka dominated India in the T20I series. After losing the first match, Sri Lanka won the 2^sd and 3^rd T20I, winning the series in their favor.