BCCI secretary Jay Shah has recently confirmed that the Indian team’s tour of South Africa will go ahead as per the plan, but only three Tests and three ODIs will take place now while the four T20Is will be played later.
“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,” Shah told ANI.
However, there has been a lot of doubt going around because of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, which has hit the country where India are scheduled to play the first two Tests before moving to Cape Town.
Meanwhile, Cricket South Africa (CSA) had also postponed three games of round four of Division 2 four-day matches after some players got affected by the virus. The one-day matches which were about to take place on December 16 have also been pushed back to 2022 as well.
On the other hand, the India A team has stayed back for their three four-day games in Bloemfontein. While the second match has concluded on Friday, the third is all set to begin on Monday.
“It is pretty natural” – Virat Kohli on talks about South Africa tour
However, India captain Virat Kohli had also shared on the eve of the ongoing Test against New Zealand in Mumbai that it was normal for such a tour to involve a lot of planning and preparation as well.
“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],” Virat 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,” he added.
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