Sri Lanka's performance analyst tests Covid-19 positive

Only a day after Sri Lanka’s batting coach Grant Flower tested positive for Covid-19, the team’s data analyst GT Niroshan contracted with the virus. With the increasing number of cases in the host camp, it remains unclear if the limited-overs series against India, which gets underway from July 13 will be affected.

Since arriving in their country after the England tour, the team members and support staff has been asked to self-isolate themselves. After Grant catching the virus, the SLC instructed the players and members to not step out of their rooms until further notice.

Meanwhile, it is learned that GT Niroshan was “found to be positive, following a PCR test carried out among the players, coaches and other staff yesterday, following the identification of Grant Flower as Covid positive.”

India series gets underway from July 13

Sri Lanka’s white-ball assignment against India is set to start from July 13, with all six games – three ODIs and as many T20Is – scheduled in R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Owing to the current Covid-19 situation, all the fixtures are scheduled to be played behind closed doors.

The current cases in the Sri Lanka camp have come in the backdrop of seven members from the England setup testing positive, which included three players from the national team and four support staff members. The development forced the ECB to name a fresh squad of 18 members for the team’s limited-overs series against Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the update of Sri Lanka’s coach and data analyst testing positive only adds more to the miserable state of affairs. During Sri Lanka’s England tour, Sri Lanka’s vice-captain Kusal Mendis, wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella and batsman Danushka Gunathilaka were found guilty of breaching bio-bubble protocols after they were found in a local market in Durham late at night.

The SLC subsequently asked the three members to fly back to Sri Lanka and has set up a five-member panel to investigate the breach. Further, all the Sri Lankan team members have been dissatisfied with SLC’s annual contracts policy. In a recent development, 29 shortlisted members have signed the contract for India’s tour, with Angelo Mathews pulling out owing to personal reasons.