Krunal Pandya tested positive for Covid-19 today for which the second T20 international match between Sri Lanka and India at Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium tonight (27th July) at IST 8 pm has been halted. The match will be played on Wednesday 28th July.
According to sources, eight Indian players who were in proximity of Krunal Pandya, are being isolated. Two of them are Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav. If they also test positive for the virus then Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav may miss the tour of England. They were being flown in as reinforcements after Shubman Gill, Avesh Khan, and Washington Sundar were ruled out due to injuries in England.
Krunal Pandya Tests Covid-19 Positive For Which India And Sri Lanka 2nd T20I Has Been Rescheduled
India is leading the three-match series after an emphatic 38-run win in the opening game on Sunday. Krunal Pandya took 1 for 16 in his two overs in the first game. Sri Lanka now must win on Wednesday to stay alive in the CoinDCX Cup, the first time a company dealing with cryptocurrency and bitcoins is sponsoring a major cricket series in the sub-continent.
Both Indian and Sri Lankan teams are in a bio-bubble and players will be isolated as per standard protocols. Earlier, the ODI series between India and Sri Lanka was deferred due to Covid-19 cases in the home team’s camp. Sri Lanka’s batting coach Grant Flower and data analyst G T Niroshan had tested positive for the virus upon their return from England tour.
The 2nd ODI Was Postponed To July 28 And The 3rd ODI Has Been Moved To July 30
The second T20I between Sri Lanka and India has been postponed to Wednesday, July 28 only hours before the commencement. It has been understood that the India all-rounder Krunal Pandya has been tested positive for COVID-19. The players have been in the bio-bubble ever since they reached Sri Lanka but there is no confirmation if there was any breach.
India is currently leading the three-match T20I series by 1-0 having won the opening game comfortably by 1-0 by 38 runs. The visitors had posted a total of 164 runs after being invited to bat first. Suryakumar Yadav (50) and Shikhar Dhawan (46) were the stars with the bat for them.
Krunal Pandya has tested positive and the T20I on Tuesday has been postponed and will happen on Wednesday if all the others test negative. The players are currently isolating. Meanwhile, there will be a lot to ponder for India if all others don’t return negative results as two members from the current squad, Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav are due to travel to England after being named as replacements for the five-match Test series starting from August 4.
With the ball, Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the way picking up 4/22 as Sri Lanka were bundled out for just 126 runs in the 19th over itself to concede an early lead in the series. The third T20I has been moved to July 30.