The BCCI has planned that the Indian cricketers will travel to South Africa later this month despite the threat of a new mutated variant of Covid-19 named ‘Omicron’.
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The BCCI is convinced that bio-bubble arranged by CSA will be safe and secure. The Board will however require the clearance from the government regarding this tour.
The tour comprises of three T20Is, as many ODIs and four test matches. The series which was originally planned to begin from December 17 will now start from December 26 at Johannesburg. The players will remain in a water tight environment during the 7 weeklong tour.
“We are going to South Africa and that’s confirmed.” It is understood that the stamp of approval will be given by the general body during Saturday’s BCCI AGM as India’s FTP tour will be discussed during the meeting. Team India will be leaving a bit late rather than the scheduled departure immediately after the home series against New Zealand,” a BCCI official said.
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India A are currently playing a three match unofficial test series against South Africa A.
The matches are likely to be held behind closed doors. But CSA cannot cancel Team India’s visit as multimillion TV rights are at stake.
“The information we received is that the bio-bubble created by CSA is safe and secured. Also, there hasn’t been a lot of data available as of now as to how severe and detrimental it could be. Also, we have not received any communication from the government on not going ahead with the tour. The team will enter the bubble shortly and travel by charter flight. Even if there is a delay, it will be a bubble-to-bubble transfer and hence no hard quarantine will be required,” a source close to PTI said.
However, the board has to deal with what the players will have to do after returning from the tour. The Indian government has defined SOPs for people arriving from the African nation.
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