India to leave for South Africa on December 16

The Indian team that will head to South Africa for three Tests and as many ODIs will undergo a four-day quarantine in Mumbai upon their arrival on December 12, before they fly to South Africa on December 16.

The team 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.

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

The need for players to remain inside the bubble has increased significantly after the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant – Omicron – in southern Africa, which has had its impact on the series, as well as few others, including the three-match ODI series against the Netherlands, which the visitors cut short and flew back home as multiple European countries imposed travel restrictions on southern territories of Africa, and the cancelled ICC Women’s World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.

As for the India tour, it has been deferred in the wake of the Omicron variant; as per the original schedule, India were to reach South Africa by December 9, with the Test series scheduled for a December 17 start. However, the first Test will now 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 subsequent ODI series, which will be a standalone bilateral event and not a part of the ICC ODI World Cup Super League, 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. As per the original schedule, the teams were supposed to play four T20Is, although both the boards – BCCI and CSA – have mutually agreed to reschedule those at a later date.