India to tour Sri Lanka next month

India will play five one-dayers and a Twenty20 international against hosts Sri Lanka next month to help fill the gap created by its cancelled tour of Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.

The dates and venues for the hastily arranged series will be announced within a few days, Indian cricket board secretary N. Srinivasan told reporters after talks with Sri Lankan board officials.

"India and Sri Lanka have a very long and close relationship in cricket, among other things, and we will continue to support Sri Lankan cricket in future," said Srinivasan.

"We look forward to an interesting one-day series and a Twenty20 game in Sri Lanka when our team comes here."

Indian media reports said the tour was likely to take place between February 1-15 and all matches would be played in Colombo.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team was given a rare break from international cricket after the Indian government declined permission to tour Pakistan in January-February following November's Mumbai terror attacks.

The upcoming series will be sandwiched between Sri Lanka's split tour of Pakistan, where they play three one-dayers from January 21-27 before returning in mid-February for two Test matches.

India are also due to visit New Zealand in March-April and have requested the hosts for an extra Test match besides the scheduled two Tests and five one-day internationals.