India’s arrival in South Africa delayed by a week; CSA to announce new dates and venues by Monday
The Indian squad, which was originally set to fly out to Johannesburg on December 8, will delay their departure by a week, the release confirmed, which effectively means the first Test will now start on December 26 instead of December 17. As per the original schedule, the three Tests were to start on December 17, 26 and January 3 in Johannesburg, Centurion and Cape Town respectively, followed by the three ODIs on January 11, 14 and 16.
“BCCI has confirmed CSA that the Indian team will travel for three Tests and three ODIs. The remaining four T20Is will be played at a later date,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah told ANI.
There has been a lot of doubt around the tour to South Africa because of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, in the country that has led to a surge in cases and hospitalisations, especially in the Gauteng province where India are scheduled to play the first two Tests.
“With the Proteas men’s team having already participated in no less than eight international cricket BSEs, CSA is pleased to announce that this tour will also take place under the strictest Covid-19 guidelines, as contained in the BSE protocols,” the CSA release said.
“CSA is also pleased to confirm that the allocation of match venues will still be in respect of the Bubble Safe Environment (BSEs) and therefore the decision on the allocations will take into account the need for safer playing environments. CSA has instituted these world class standards and measures to ensure that all players, staff and officials are protected within this environment. CSA’s main focus is to safeguard the cricket biosphere by managing strict entry standards and limited movement outside of its cordon. CSA will confirm the venues in the next 48 hours.”
“Look, it is pretty natural [for them to wonder and worry and talk about whether the tour will go ahead and what the protocols will be],” Kohli had said on Thursday. “We are not playing in normal times anyway. So there is a lot of planning that is involved, a lot of preparation that is involved in terms of understanding exactly what is going to go on. There are players who are not part of the group right now who will be entering quarantine to join the team bubble to fly in a charter.”
When exactly the BCCI and CSA agree to play the four T20Is remains to be seen as another T20 World Cup is approaching in 2022, and both teams already have packed schedules for the coming year.