CHENNAI: India's lone warm-up fixture ahead of the two-Tests against Sri Lanka is reduced by a day, the Island Nation's cricket board confirmed on Sunday. Unlike the original plan of a four-day game, India will play a three-day warm-up fixture at the NCC Grounds, Colombo from August 7. They will land in Sri Lanka on August 4.
The significance of the warm-up fixture has only gone up in the last couple of days with Jasprit Bumrah set to miss the entire tour due to knee injury. In his absence, the three-day match will be crucial for the Shubman Gill-led side as they look to finalise their bowling attack for the first Test.
Before the first match, to be played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium (GICS) from August 15, Gill, along with head coach Gautam Gambhir, has to figure out the best possible combination that suits Sri Lankan conditions. Having not played a Test in the country in nine years, only Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and KL Rahul are the players who have past experience in Sri Lanka. Kuldeep has played only one match in which he took five wickets.
The others, including the entire batting attack, will be featuring in a Test match in Sri Lanka for the first time. The last time India toured the Island Nation, they won the series 3-0 with R Ashwin and Jadeja sharing 30 wickets between them. However, the pacers also had help with Mohammed Shami coming third on the list, accounting for ten scalps.
Who will step up for India is a question that remains to be seen. The next week or so will be imperative to that as well with the young Test batting line-up getting acclimatized to the conditions in Sri Lanka. Following the Galle Test, the tourney will move to SSC Colombo where the second match will be played from August 27.
