The second T20I between the two sides has been postponed by a day after Indian all-rounder Krunal Pandya tested positive and was deemed a close contact with eight other members.
Initially, the match which was scheduled to be played at 8 pm tonight in Colombo has been postponed by a day and will now be played on Wednesday. The entire squad will be undergoing RT-PCR tests today to determine if there are any further instances of outbreak in the team.
“Following the Rapid Antigen Tests conducted ahead of the match on Tuesday morning, Team India all-rounder Krunal Pandya was found to be positive. The Medical Teams have identified eight members as close contacts,”
the BCCI said in a statement.
According to sources, Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav were identified among those eight close contacts. It can be a body blow for India if they test positive and miss out on the England tour, only four days after being included in the squad as replacements for the injured Shubman Gill and Washington Sundar.
Both the Indian and Sri Lankan players who have been inside the bio-bubble are currently isolated as per standard protocols. It is still unclear exactly how and when Krunal contracted the virus despite being in a bio-bubble for a month.
After securing the ODI series in Sri Lanka by 2-1, Shikhar Dhawan-led side defeated Sri Lanka by 38 runs in the opening encounter of the T20I series.
The Indian Test contingent in England have also faced COVID related issues, with the wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant having to isolate himself at a friend’s place in London after contracting the virus.
Other squad members, including Wriddhiman Saha, Abhimanyu Eswaran and Bharat Arun, also had to miss training sessions after coming into close contact with training assistant Dayananda Garani, who had come out positive.
