India tour of Sri Lanka: Pandya, Chahar brothers to script history after 87 years – India will take on Sri Lanka in a limited-overs series this month as they prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The tour will mark the first time India will be playing in two different tours simultaneously, with most of the first team currently in England for a Test series. The series against Sri Lanka could also see Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar and Rahul Chahar make history and repeat an instance that last happened in 1934.
Team India have two pairs of siblings on their squad for the tour of Sri Lanka with the Pandya brothers and Chahar brothers part of the setup. Should all of Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar and Rahul Chahar feature against Sri Lanka, it would mark the first instance since 1934 that the team will play two pairs of brothers in the XI. At that instance, India saw the CS and CK Nayudu in the XI along with Nazir and Wazir Ali at the Chepauk Stadium against England. Over the years, Mohinder Amarnath and Surinder Amarnath, Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan are the pair of brothers who have played for India together.
Hardik and Krunal have been teammates at Mumbai Indians since their entry into the IPL, while Deepak Chahar and Rahul Chahar made a name for themselves with the Rising Pune Supergiant. Deepak then moved to Chennai Super Kings, while Rahul joined the Pandya brothers at Mumbai. The quartet have been putting in the hard yards in training, starring in the two intra-squad practice games, and will be in contention to make the playing XI when the series kicks off.
The India tour of Sri Lanka was scheduled to kick off on July 13, but an outbreak of coronavirus meant that the series was postponed to a later date. The series was pushed to July 18 to facilitate quarantine of the players, but those plans have been dealt a further blow a batsman from Sri Lanka’s alternate squad, Sandun Weerakkodi, tested positive for COVID-19. The Lankans however have backup plans with a 24-man squad currently in bio-bubble in Dambulla.