Sri Lanka's Hasaranga yet to recover from COVID-19, set to miss India T20s

MUMBAI : Sri Lanka all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga, diagnosed with COVID-19 in Australia last week, is set to miss the three-match Twenty20 series in India after returning a positive test again for the virus, the country's cricket board said on Wednesday.

India will host Sri Lanka in three T20s between Thursday and Sunday before a two-test series from March 4.

Hasaranga, who bowls leg-spin, was placed in isolation ahead of Sri Lanka's third T20 match against Australia in Canberra last Tuesday.

He returned a positive result again when a Rapid Antigen Test was conducted on Tuesday, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said in a statement.

"A PCR test too confirmed the result," SLC added.

"The player was transferred to Melbourne from Canberra and will remain in isolation until he returns a negative PCR test report."

The 24-year-old is highly-rated in white ball cricket and was picked up by Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore for 107.5 million rupees ($1.44 million) in this month's auction for the tournament.

($1 = 74.6100 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by William Maclean)