The itinerary for India’s impending South African tour has been changed. As previously announced, just two series will be played: Tests and ODIs, with T20Is following later. On Monday, Cricket South Africa (CSA) confirmed the revised schedule December 6.
The Test series will be part of the ICC World Test Championship’s new cycle, while the ODI series will be part of the ICC Men’s World Cup Super League, which will serve as a qualifying tournament for the ICC Men’s World Cup in 2023.
Due to logistical issues, the New Year’s Test will now be held at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, commencing on January 3. The New Year’s Test is traditionally held at Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town.
India’s tour of South Africa starts with the Boxing Day Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion. It will be followed by the New Year’s Test in Johannesburg, then the third and final Test in Cape Town, starting January 11.
The first two Test matches will commence at 10:00 SAST (1:30 PM IST), followed by the third at 10:30 SAST (2:00 PM IST).
After that, the two sides will play three One-Day Internationals (ODIs). The first two matches will be held at Eurolux Boland Park in Paarl on January 19 and 20. The trip comes to a close on January 23 with the third and final ODI at Newlands.
All three ODIs will begin at 10:30 a.m. SAST (2:00 PM IST).
Despite the emergence of Omicron, a novel coronavirus type, Cricket South Africa and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCI) agreed to go ahead with the tour.
The Indian squad will go to South Africa a week later than originally planned. Virat Kohli and his teammates were supposed to travel on December 9th.
India’s squad for Tests against South Africa
The All-India Senior Selection Committee has picked an 18-member squad for the upcoming 3-match Test series against South Africa starting from 26th December 2021. The Test series will form a part of the new cycle of the ICC World Test Championship.
India’s Test squad: 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.
The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward.
