IND v SA: India To Leave For South Africa On December 16, To Stay In Bio-Bubble For 44 Days

The Indian team will leave for their tour of South Africa on December 16 and will gather in Mumbai to enter a four-day quarantine on December 12 in order to prepare for their impending departure. India is scheduled to play three Tests starting on December 26 and then three ODIs as well.

The Indian cricketers who had participated in the New Zealand series recently are on a well-deserved break. The schedule was also moved back a little bit thanks to the discovery of the new COVID variant Omicron in South Africa itself. Amidst much ambiguity, BCCI finally confirmed the tour after receiving clearance from the government.

The Indian team which lands in South Africa will remain inside a bio-bubble until the Test series ends on January 15, while the members part of the ODI series will have to spend an additional eight days, making it a total of 44 days inside the restricted environment.

BCCI had recently named an 18-member squad for the three-Test matches, starting with the Boxing Day encounter in Centurion, whereas the ODI squad is likely to be named in the next couple of days.

Deferred Schedule Sees India Playing Three Tests And Three Odis, With Four T20Is To Be Played At Later Date

The discovery of new Omicron variant, which is highly infectious and transmissible led to the Netherlands cutting short their tour of South Africa before their three ODI matches and flying home as multiple European countries imposed travel restrictions on southern territories of Africa, and the cancelled ICC Women’s World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.

BCCI was also on edge as India A was playing three 4-day matches in South Africa and they were asked to stay back. Four players from that squad will join the Indian Test squad as backup players.

Earlier India was to reach South Africa on December 9 with the first Test to begin on December 17. Now, the first Test will be played from December 26-30 in Centurion, followed by the second in Johannesburg from January 3-7 and the third and final one in Cape Town from January 11-15.

The three-match ODI series will be a standalone series and not part of the ICC ODI World Cup Super League, which will commence on January 19 in Paarl, which will also host the second ODI on January 21 before the final one in Cape Town on January 23.

India Test squad for South Africa series: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj.

Standby Players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla.

Also Read: IND vs SA: ‘He Does Well In Overseas Conditions’ – MSK Prasad Backs Ajinkya Rahane’s Selection For South Africa Tests