Rahul Dravid, who was coaching the Indian team on their last tour of Sri Lanka, has earned praise from Sri Lanka Cricket officials for not taking the 'easy" option of aborting the tour midway after the Covid-19 outbreak in their camp.
Mohan de Silva, the secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket, who earlier last week confirmed the financial benefits of the series to the board commended Dravid for staying put in the country.
"If he wanted, he could have easily taken the team back to India. The most encouraging aspect of the whole Pandya episode was the role of the support staff of the Indian team, led by Rahul. If he wanted, he could have easily taken the team back to India,” de Silva told Cricbuzz.
All-rounder Krunal Pandya had tested positive for Covid-19 and it was followed by isolation of as many as eight players who were deemed close contacts of him. India could not quite manage to make up for the loss of nine players and eventually lost the T20 series 1-2 after winning the first game of the series convincingly.
After Krunal, K Gowtham and Yuzvendra Chahal had also tested positive for the virus but all of them have now returned home after recovery.
Dravid had rebuked the feelings of sorry that came their way after Covid-19 and had said that India were ready to play with their remaining 11 players. "We have 11 players available and we will play them. There is nothing to feel sorry about,” Dravid had said before the start of the 2nd T20I.
The former India captain had travelled with the Indian team as the head coach Ravi Shastri was in the UK with the Virat Kohli-led side. The team that toured Sri Lanka were led by Shikhar Dhawan and they clinched the ODI series before losing the T20 series.