Itinerary for South Africa v India series to be finalised soon

The itinerary for India’s tour of South Africa will be finalised soon as both the cricket boards are believed to have come close to an agreement. The tour is scheduled to begin in early January next year with the home season for the Men in Blue set to end at the stroke of Christmas eve. Cricket South Africa (CSA) is in deliberate discussions with the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) regarding the scheduling of the tour.

Team India has started their home season which is filled with limited-overs matches against Australia on Sunday. The ODI series will be followed by 3 T20 Internationals. Soon New Zealand will arrive in the country to play 3 ODIs and as many T20Is in October. There is no respite for Kohli’s men as Sri Lanka is scheduled to play a return series across formats in November and December with the last match set to be played on December 24. On the other hand, South Africa would be hosting Bangladesh for 2 match Test series which will be followed by 3 ODIs and 2 T20Is.

New Year Test not possible

India’s busy home schedule has meant that South Africa are being forced to adjust with their traditional matches. Boxing Day Test and New Year Test which are played on December 26 and January 2 every year are set to be cancelled which was originally planned to be played against India. But India will arrive in South Africa only after Christmas and want to spend time in the country to get acclimatised to the conditions. They have also asked for the warm-up match to be scheduled before the start of the Test series. All these series of events has forced CSA to think of an alternative option for the festive games.

The communications manager of CSA Altaaf Kazi confirmed that negotiations were advanced. “We are engaging with them and are planning for a full tour,” he was quoted by Times of India. Also, according to the ESPNCricinfo, it is expected that the first of a possible four Test matches will start on January 5 or 6, three or four days later than South Africa’s traditional preferred start on the January 2 holiday.

There are also reports that the Test series might get curtailed to 3 matches given that Australia will be touring to South Africa to play their first game on March 1 which has made the time frame for the India tour a tight one. The original plan was for four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.