Virat Kohli & Co. will reportedly start their South Africa sojourn with the New Year’s Tests from January 5 or 6 in Cape Town.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are set to finalise the much-awaited schedule for the series in the coming days.
While both the boards have made it clear that there will be a full-fledged series in South Africa early next year, the failure to announce the schedule has kept everyone guessing whether the tour will have the same number of matches or not? As per the ICC’s Future Tours Programme India is expected to play four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is in South Africa.
Traditionally, CSA holds the New Year’s Test at Newlands from January 2 to cash in on the holiday week, but with the BCCI adamant on having more than a week break to adapt to the conditions after the conclusion of the series against Sri Lanka towards the end of December, it looks unlikely. CSA was also trying to convince the BCCI to play the first Test from January 4, but it looks unlikely now.
The news outlet has reported that the BCCI wants the team to play at least one warm-up game before the Test series which effectively end any chance of the first match being played from January 4. The report also claimed that the main reason behind the delay was that the Indian board was not impressed by its South African counterpart’s decision of announcing the schedule for the series against Australia which will start on March 1.
Earlier this month, Haroon Lorgat, CSA’s chief executive officer, had hoped of putting an end to the confusion surrounding the series soon.
“It’s a very difficult one. I’ve got some sympathy for the BCCI itself in trying to work out which dates. Of course, we are trying to have [the Test] as early as New Year start as possible,” Lorgat had said at the launch of T20 team Stellenbosch Kings. “They are looking at travel arrangements, dates when they finish the last fixture. I wouldn’t put our team on a flight the very next day after they complete a game. You need a day or two at home. So these are the logistics we are grappling with.”