India to tour South Africa for 3 Tests and 3 ODIs, T20Is will be played later, confirms Jay Shah

The emergence of Omicron variant of COVID-19 has certainly left the world stunned yet again. Cricket schedule has also affected with the Women’s World Cup Qualifier which was in progress in Zimbabwe getting abandoned. Even CWC League 2 Tri-Series didn’t happen with the UAE and Namibia returning home. Cricket South Africa (CSA) also postponed their division 2 matches after a few players tested positive for the virus.

India were scheduled to tour South Africa for three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is starting from December 17. The team was also set to leave on December 8 or 9 soon after the ongoing second Test against New Zealand in Mumbai. But with COVID spreading with new variant, the BCCI had stated that it will need government clearance for the tour.

Several reports surfaced regarding the tour over the last few days. And the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has now confirmed that India will tour the rainbow nation for only the Test and ODI series while the four T20 Internationals will be played at a later date. It seems that the decision was took at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the board on Saturday (December 4).

India to tour South Africa for three Tests and three ODIS, T20Is to be played later: BCCI secretary Jay Shah to ANI pic.twitter.com/2DkPVEDGzR

— ANI (@ANI) December 4, 2021

Squad likely to be out soon

With no clarity on the tour happening, even the squad selection was deferred. The selectors and captains along with coach were set to meet after the Kanpur Test between India and New Zealand to finalise the squad for South Africa tour. Now that the tour is confirmed but with lesser matches, expect the selectors to announce the Test and ODI squad soon.

Moreover, the departure of team India will also be delayed now but the revised schedule is yet to be officially announced. The team won’t be leaving for South Africa on December 8 or 9 and things on that front will be cleared only after the new schedule is announced.

The three-match Test series is a part of World Test Championship 2021-23 while the ODI series comes under the World Cup Super League which will determine top 8 qualified teams for the 2023 mega event to be played in India.