Krunal separated from team


Colombo: The rescheduled second T20I between Sri Lanka and India is likely to go ahead on Wednesday (July 28) after the entire Indian squad, barring Krunal Pandya, returned negative result on RT-PCR tests.

Officials from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the BCCI remain hopeful that the match, postponed after Krunal’s positive result, could be pulled off on Wednesday.

Hopefully the match could be played today, said a top SLC official even as information has emerged that the SLC officials have moved Krunal to another hotel. The Indian team members, however, continue to remain at the Taj Samudra Hotel in Galle Street in Colombo.

Yes, we have moved Krunal to an intermediate care hotel Mount Lavinia, confirmed SLC secretary Mohan de Silva. Pandya himself did not respond to Cricbuzz’s query and it is still not clear how long he will need to be kept in isolation.

Meanwhile, the negative test results of the rest of the Indian squad is understood to have come past midnight on Tuesday. These tests were subsequent to the negative results of the eight players, identified by the medical team, who were believed to have come in contact with Krunal. It is, however, still not clear if the eight players will play today or not. However, all of them have been asked to stay indoors and in isolation till further instructions.

The stakeholders and sponsors of the SLC have been informed that the remaining two T20Is, in all likelihood, will be played on Wednesday and Thursday as announced. “We should know by afternoon about the fate of the game but there should not be any issues with the game, said a stakeholder.

India lead the three-match T20I series 1-0 after winning the ODI leg 2-1.