The Board of Control for Cricket in India has strengthened the Indian squad ahead of the last T20 International against hosts Sri Lanka.
The senior selection committee of the BCCI has approved the inclusion of the five net bowlers in the squad. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan and the team management were left with few options for the second ODI, being played in Colombo on Wednesday (today). The squad was depleted after Krunal Pandya was reported Covid positive and he along with his eight close contacts had to be left out for the match.
Based on the request of the Indian team management in Sri Lanka, the selection committee has allowed the squad to rope Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, R Sai Kishore and Simarjeet Singh. They all are in Sri Lanka with the team as net bolwers.
After Krunal Pandya was tested positive for COVID-19 on July 27, all members of the team and support staff were immediately isolated and tested as a safety measure. The test results for everyone including the eight identified close contacts of Krunal returned negative.
Following the test on July 27, a Rapid Antigen test was also conducted today at noon and they have all returned negative results.
However, to ensure health and safety of the squad, the 8 close contacts will continue to remain in isolation in the team hotel, BCCI stated in a Press release.
The second T20I was deferred by a day.
The remaining T20I will go on as per the schedule.
A depleted India lost the second T20I to Sri Lanka by four wickets, even though the hosts were stretched to the last over.
