South Africa announce India tour schedule despite pandemic uncertainty
India will play Test matches in Centurion, Johannesburg and Cape Town on their tour of South Africa which starts later this month, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced.
The first world championship Test between South Africa and India will get underway at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Boxing Day.
The second Test will be played at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg from January 3-7 with the final Test scheduled for Newlands in Cape Town from January 11-15.
The Test series will be followed by three one-day internationals, the first two in Paarl on January 19 and 21 and the third at Newlands on 23 January.
The one-day matches were originally part of the International Cricket Council’s World Cup Super League, but the CSA have since announced in a separate communication that this was no longer the case.
With South Africa hit by travel restrictions following the discovery of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of coronavirus, CSA announced last week the tour will be played under strict bio-secure conditions.
India, who earlier on Monday completed a Test series win against New Zealand in Mumbai, will travel to South Africa by chartered flight and will go straight into bio-secure accommodation in the Gauteng region for the first two Tests.
Virat Kohli gives India youngsters passing grades
They will then travel to Cape Town for the remaining fixtures which will be played in the Western Cape at Newlands and Boland Park.
Boland Park in Paarl is about 50km from Cape Town and is a quick bus ride from where the team will be stationed.
The tour was originally scheduled to start on 17 December and continue until 26 January, with four Twenty20 internationals to be played after the one-day games.
It was announced last week the tour would be delayed and shortened because of the coronavirus situation.
The T20 internationals have been shelved and will be played later in 2022.
The discovery of the Omicron variant led to travel bans to and from South Africa by many countries and also disrupted sports fixtures, including a tour by the Netherlands cricket team which was cut short after the first of three one-day matches.
Cricket South Africa praised India for their “solidarity” in continuing with an ongoing three-match four-day series between the A teams of the two countries, currently being played in Bloemfontein, and for standing by their commitment to the Test tour.
India tour to SA Fixtures
December 26-30, first Test, Centurion
January 3-7, second Test, Johannesburg
January 11-15, third Test, Cape Town
January 19, first one-day international, Paarl
January 21, second one-day international, Paarl
23 January, third one-day international, Cape Town
