Virat Kohli's men may miss out on South Africa tour as Sri Lanka visit India in Nov

Team India raced to number one spot in ICC Test rankings after dominating visiting teams in their long home season that began in 2015 and ended earlier this year. Virat Kohli's men ended the dream run on a high, beating Australia in a highly-competitive four-Test series.

Kohli and his men though were gearing up for tougher tests as an array of foreign tours were scheduled to begin from December 2017, with India visiting South Africa before a trip to England in June 2018.

Notably, India's scheduled tour of South Africa was reportedly supposed to be a long one with four Tests and seven ODIs. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) even wanted to bring on board Rahul Dravid as batting consultant to help the team prepare for the tough challenge.

However, the proposed tour to South Africa is likely to be affected as BCCI has reportedly agreed to a home series against Sri Lanka in November-December.

Even as Rangana Herath's men are battling to prevent India from winning the first of the ongoing three-match Test series in Galle that started earlier this week, talks over the said return series have taken place.

Notably, Sri Lanka was scheduled to travel to India for a long tour, consisting three Tests, five ODIs and a one-off Twenty20 match in February next year.

However, the tour has now been brought forward to accommodate Independence Cup - a tri-nation series involving the hosts, India and Bangladesh in March 2018 to mark Sri Lanka's 70th independence day, according to reports.

Sri Lanka cricket CEO Ashley de Silva confirmed that they had proposed the rescheduling to the Indian board and got the latter's consent.

"Sri Lanka was due to tour India from February end to the first week of April next year and the dates would have clashed with the Independence Cup. That's why we requested the Indian board for a change to bring the tour forward and they have agreed," De Silva said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

Meanwhile, BCCI reportedly was also planning to host a tri-series involving New Zealand and Bangladesh later this year, before the team departed for South Africa.

Author's take

Team India has not played any opposition as frequently as they have played Sri Lanka [150 One Day Internationals] in the limited overs format. Since the 1980s the bilateral series has been a regular fixture in both teams' calendars. India even toured the island nation twice in 2008/09 season.

The ongoing tour, which has three Tests and five ODIs and a one-off T20I is likely to become a one-sided affair, given Sri Lanka's recent struggles across all formats of the game. Another series with the island nation in a span of three months is unlikely to garner a lot of interest from cricket fans.

However, the BCCI might opt hosting the matches in newer venues across the country, eyeing better revenue.