From Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav to Hardik Pandya, eight players to miss rest of SL vs IND T20I series

The second T20I between Sri Lanka and India, after being rescheduled due to a sudden COVID-19 outbreak inside the bio-bubble from Tuesday, July 27 to July 28 will go ahead after the eight members of the Indian team deemed as close contacts of Krunal Pandya, who tested positive, returned negative after the latest round of testing.

However, like Krunal, the eight players won't be part of the series anymore. As per a report in The Indian Express, Ishan Kishan, Prithvi Shaw, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Krishnappa Gowtham have been ruled out of the remaining two matches and will remain in isolation as per the protocol of the Sri Lanka Government.

After which, the five bowlers Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh, who were part of the squad as standbys have been added to the squad for the last two games.

The absence of the first-choice batsmen could lead to the uncapped openers Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, both making their debuts, among other several changes that India will have to make, while opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan will continue to lead the side.

Krunal Pandya had tested positive on the morning of the match, after which it was postponed and the players went into isolation and the whole team underwent a further round of RT-PCR tests to ascertain the extent of the outbreak.