Sri Lanka to visit India for three T20Is in early 2020
The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Tuesday, 25 September, confirmed the three T20Is for 5, 7 and 10 January, in Guwahati, Indore and Pune respectively.
The matches will serve as useful preparation for both teams ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2020 later that year in Australia. India are currently ranked fourth in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings, while Sri Lanka are eighth. Both teams have their places confirmed for the World Cup, which starts in October 2020. However, Sri Lanka, who were outside the top eight at the cut off date of 31 December 2018, will join Bangladesh and six qualifiers to first play the group stage of the tournament, from where four teams will make it to the Super 12 stage.
JUST IN: Sri Lanka to play three-match T20I series against India in January.
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 25, 2019
More details here - https://t.co/2Dwcyvcrl5 #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/DMs5YL0fDu
The short series will mark the start of a busy year of limited-overs cricket for India. They are set to host Australia for three one-day internationals, with the first in Mumbai on 14 January. They will then travel to New Zealand for a full series, starting with five T20Is.
The T20Is were initially scheduled to feature Zimbabwe. However, with the board suspended by the ICC, the BCCI approached Sri Lanka for those dates.