COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Thilanga Sumathipala has confirmed that India will be taking part in the Independence Cup in 2018. It is learnt that the tournament, which is a part of Sri Lanka’s 70th Independence day celebrations, is set to see participation from Pakistan and South Africa as well.
As reported by cricbuzz, following a meeting involving the SLC officials, Sumathipala revealed, “We are very very keen to play our Independence cup in Sri Lanka next year which India has agreed to be part of it. There is a South Africa-India tour coming up and it might clash with the India-Pakistan tour. The Indians are willing to go to South Africa in the period where we are scheduled to tour, so we will discuss with India and South Africa during the next month’s ICC meeting in Dubai regarding our return tour, Independence Cup and then we all (Sri Lanka, India, South Africa and Pakistan) will accommodate each other.”
The SLC president divulged that India agreed to be a part of the tournament following discussions between the Prime Ministers of the two countries.
“India has already given their willingness to play the Independence Cup in 2018 in Sri Lanka after Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe discussed this with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently.”
Meanwhile, Team India is scheduled to tour Sri Lanka in July-August this year to play three Tests, five ODIs and a T20.
