Nidahas Trophy 2018: Update on series opener between India and Sri Lanka

Recent reports from Sri Lanka state that the T20 tri-series(Nidahas Trophy 2018) featuring India, Bangladesh and the hosts will go ahead as scheduled. The tournament's future was in jeopardy after a state of emergency was declared in the Island nation because of communal tension between Buddhists and Muslims there.

Word from Indian team management is that they have spoken to Sri Lankan authorities. Situation in Colombo is normal. T20 Tri-series will go ahead as scheduled, as things stand.

— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) March 6, 2018

"At a special cabinet meeting, it was decided to declare a state of emergency for 10 days to prevent the spread of communal riots to other parts of the country,", Dayasiri Jayasekara, Sri Lanka's Minister of Sport, had told Reuters earlier today.

"It was also decided to take stern action against people who are instigating violence through Facebook," he added.

The BCCI had come out and clarified the situation as well, stating that the situation in Colombo is under control and that they have had a discussion regarding the security arrangements with the concerned authority.

“The situation in picture is Kandy and not Colombo. This is to notify everyone that after talking to concerned security personnel, we have understood that the situation is completely normal in Colombo.”

Notably, all the seven matches of this tri-series will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo which is more than 100 kilometres away from Kandy, where supposedly a curfew has been imposed. The match will start at its scheduled time of 7 PM IST.

The Men in Blue are set to go head-to-head with Sri Lanka later tonight in the tournament opener. The Indian team will be led by stand-in captain Rohit Sharma, who has taken over the reins from full-time skipper Virat Kohli, who has been granted rest, for this series. Four other senior players have been rested as well - MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya while Kuldeep Yadav misses out due to an injury.