The South Africa team is set to tour Sri Lanka for a limited overs series comprising three ODIs and as many T20Is in September ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Cricket South Africa announced that the team will tour Sri Lanka between September 2 and September 14 for six limited overs matches to be played at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
The series will conclude five days before the resumption of the second phase of IPL 2021 and a month before the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to begin on October 17 in UAE. As it stands, this is going to be the final dress rehearsal for both Sri Lanka and South Africa ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Sri Lanka’s road to the main event of the World Cup will begin early as they will have to play in the qualifying round against the Netherlands, Ireland and Namibia to cement their place in the Super 12.
After defeating India 2-1 in the recently concluded T20I series, Sri Lanka will be high in confidence. Although they still miss quite a few key members of their team due to various reasons, the youngsters have started living upto the expectations and will make their fans believe.
On the other hand, the South African team looks in great form as they will visit Sri Lanka on the back of consecutive T20I series victories over Ireland and the defending champions West Indies.
The Acting CEO of CSA, Pholetsi Moseki has expressed his delight to have their team play a limited overs series in the sub-continent just before the World Cup as it will help them assess the sub-continental conditions ahead of the global event.
Playing against quality opposition in the sub-continent is the best way for our team to prepare for this event and we are grateful to Sri Lanka Cricket for accommodating us during this time of the year where schedules are highly condensed.
Moseki said in an official statement.
The last time these two sides went head to head in limited overs cricket was when the Sri Lankan team travelled to South Africa back in March 2019 as the Proteas played the visitors off the park with a clean sweep in both the ODI and T20I series.