India and Bangladesh will travel to Sri Lanka for a tri-nation T20 International series in March next year, announced by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Friday. This series will be played from March 8-20, which mark 70 years of Independence of the Island nation.

The tournament consists six league matches apart from a final game. All teams will play two league matches against each opponent and will fight to feature in the final. R Premadasa, Colombo will host all seven matches of this series. Thus, India and Sri Lanka will be featuring in the third series against each other in last eight months. Prior, India visited them in July-August, while currently, they are playing in India for a full series.

The BCCI CEO Rahul Johri said after this announcement “We are privileged to be a part of Sri Lanka’s 70th year celebrations, there is no closer friend to the BCCI than Sri Lanka [and Bangladesh] and when Mr. Sumathipala first floated this invitation, there was almost instant agreement that the Indian Team would participate for this reason.”

“70 years is a long journey, and one that needs to be commemorated and celebrated. We are happy that our closest neighbours, who share more or less the same journey of independence are joining us in this celebration, which we believe will be a milestone and an augur of thegreat things to come in the annals of cricket,” said SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala.

On this occasion, Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan Papon also added his words and said “The support and contribution of Sri Lanka [and India] in Bangladesh’s cricketing journey could not be overemphasized, and that this invitation was a clear testament to what a good friend Sri Lanka has been to Bangladesh’s Cricket. This Tournament too, would no doubt continue to strengthen the bonds between the 3 nations.”

This series will be called Nidahas Trophy and it was also played in 1998 on the occasion of 50 years of Independence.