Cricket News: Sri Lanka’s aspirations for a successful tour to Australia have been dashed due to the civil war

The worsening economic and political situation in Sri Lanka has raised worries about Australia’s next visit, while both Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and Cricket Australia insist the month-long series will go ahead.

“At present the tour will go on as planned. We will be looking at the developments in the next couple of days and decide what to do,” Mohan de Silva, the secretary of SLC, told Cricbuzz on Wednesday (May 4).

The uncertainty stems from the scenario at ground zero, as even the SLC official admits. Essentials, gasoline, and food stores are in low supply, and people are forced to endure extended periods of power outage. Last month, there was a 12-hour power outage, but the situation appears to have improved to a fluctuating scenario of three hours, give or take. On May Day, there was no power outage. In this context, several SLC stakeholders questioned whether the SLC should have the day-night games in the first place, with some believing that the white-ball games might be switched to day games. De Silva stated that a decision would be made shortly, but an SLC official stated that the board is not reliant on the national grid.

“We have our own generators and we don’t depend on the government’s power. It will be a different case if there is a fuel shortage,” said Charith Senanayake, a former manager of the Sri Lanka national team. “The political situation has no bearing on the game and the SLC is always apolitical.”