Highlights
- Australia toured Sri Lanka prior to Pakistan
- Australian skipper Pat Cummins along with David Warner put out tweets thanking the country
- The Asia Cup which was scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka might just shift to UAE
Galle| It just seems like yesterday that the Sri Lankan tigers pulled off a Test match win against the mighty Aussies who were playing dominant Test cricket under the leadership of pacer Pat Cummins. Australia defeated Sri Lanka in the first Test match but Sri Lanka returned the favor by inflicting a heavy loss on the Aussies by an innings which leveled the series for the hosts. After the conclusion of the Australia series, it is now time for Pakistan to take on Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series.
Right now Sri Lanka is facing one of the worst economic they have seen since their independence. There is a shortage of basic amenities such as fuel, medicine, and food, their president has resigned and this has brought the country to a standstill. It is the spirit of the people that have kept the country going and so has its passion for the game. There are a lot of protests going on in the country at the moment, crowds have hijacked the president's house and things just keep on getting worse but no protestor or political party has tried to put the game in a bad light as they know that these tours generate foreign exchange which is important for Sri Lanka at the moment.
The Australian tour pumped in an estimated USD 2 million to Sri Lanka Cricket. This resulted in the tourism industry benefitting with hundreds of Australian fans turning up for the matches that ended in a 1-1 draw. On the flip side, the Pakistan series will not generate as much as revenue but looking at the economic crisis, the tour holds a lot more value. The Sri Lankan government is trying its best to host the Asia Cup later next month, but there are chances that the multi-nation event might get shifted to the United Arab Emirates. Just like the Australian series, the Asia Cup will generate several million dollars for Sri Lanka and this in many ways will help the island nation to come out of the crisis.
