India will be touring Sri Lanka after a gap of four years and for Sri Lanka Cricket, it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. With the board battling financial and other crisis – including player contracts, bio-bubble breaches – the six matches which they will host against India will solve some of the financial worries.
President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Shammi Silva has informed that the board will be earning an approximate amount of $12 million for conducting six matches against India - three ODIs and three T20Is, which comes out to be around a whopping 89.9 crore INR.
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"We had initially finalised to host three matches. But after some negotiations with the Indian Cricket Board, we managed to increase the matches to six which will enable us to raise an additional $6 million in revenue. SLC will be able to provide a large income to the country with Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa’s vision of building a strong economy through Sports," Silva told dailynews.lk.
With Covid-19 affecting cricket globally, several tours were either postponed or suspended and Sri Lanka Cricket was no different. Despite tours getting cancelled, Silva mentioned that the board did not let the pandemic affect the salaries of players or any of the facilities that were made available to them.
{{/usCountry}}With Covid-19 affecting cricket globally, several tours were either postponed or suspended and Sri Lanka Cricket was no different. Despite tours getting cancelled, Silva mentioned that the board did not let the pandemic affect the salaries of players or any of the facilities that were made available to them.
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"We missed out on several tours as scheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, yet we did not reduce the monthly salaries and allowances of our cricketers. None of their facilities were deducted either. In the face of this situation, the cricketers should give out their best display to the country," Silva pointed out.
India last toured Sri Lanka in 2017, where they swept the hosts in all three formats, taking the Test series 3-0, ODIs 5-0 and winning the one-off T20I. Shikhar Dhawan, who will be leading the team against Sri Lanka starting Tuesday, was the leading run-scorer in the Test series with 358 runs, while Virat Kohli amassed 330 runs in the ODIs.