COLOMBO: Zimbabwe head coach Lalchand Rajput will miss the first two One-day Internationals in Sri Lanka after testing positive for Covid-19 at the start of the tour, an official said Monday.

Sri Lanka’s top sports doctor Arjuna de Silva said Rajput was asymptomatic, but was placed under observation at a hospital before being isolated at a hotel.

“We are doing some routine tests and he will be able to go back to a hotel,” de Silva told AFP. “There will be a 10-day quarantine period which means he will miss the first two matches.”

The ODI series will be played at the Pallekele Stadium in the central city of Kandy on January 16, 18 and 21. De Silva said the other members of the Zimbabwe squad tested negative and will continue with their practice as planned.

Plans to stage three Twenty20s with Zimbabwe were shelved because of Sri Lanka’s upcoming tour of Australia. Sri Lanka’s five-match T20 tour of Australia is slated for February 11-20.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2022