SA vs IND: Team India plays football, goes for an evening run to warm-up before training sessions

Team India have already landed in South Africa for their Test and ODI series, starting Sunday, December 26. The tour was earlier under the clouds due to the emergence of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, but Cricket South Africa and the Board of Control for Cricket in India made sure that the matches don’t get cancelled.

The Test matches were scheduled to start on December 17 and had to be postponed by around a week. The Indian team is set to begin their training session on Sunday, December 19. The BCCI posted a video where the players can be seen having fun. Even head coach Rahul Dravid, also a former Indian cricketer, was seen in a jolly mood.

Here’s the video of Team India enjoying

How did #TeamIndia recharge their batteries ahead of their first training session in Jo'Burg? 🤔

On your marks, get set & Footvolley! ☺️😎👏👌#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/dIyn8y1wtz

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 18, 2021

Team India is currently staying in a five-star resort, named Irene Country Lodge in Pretoria. Recently, Anushka Sharma, Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli’s wife, posted a picture of the resort on her official Instagram handle. The resort has been a part of bio-secure bubbles for plenty of teams.

Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa have stayed there while being on tours during the coronavirus pandemic. The new COVID-19 variant earlier meant that South Africa’s home ODI series against the Netherlands had to be called off.

In the meantime, Team India have already named a strong 18-member squad for the Test series. Rohit Sharma was earlier appointed as their vice-captain, replacing Ajinkya Rahane, who hasn’t lived up to expectations in the last 12 months or so.

However, Sharma sustained a hamstring injury during a training session in Mumbai and was ruled out of the series. Priyank Panchal has been roped in as his replacement. Panchal led the India A team in their three red-ball matches against South Africa A at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.

Ravindra Jadeja will also miss the series after he was ruled out due to a forearm injury. Jadeja also missed the second Test against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

The series also won’t feature Axar Patel, who has had a dream run in his Test career. Centurion, Johannesburg and Cape Town will host the three Tests.