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Fate of India tour to be known in days

• India visit to SA set to start December 17, but it could be delayed due to emergence of Omicron

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India’s national team cricketers expect to know in the next few days whether their tour of SA will go ahead in late December after the emergence in the country of the Omicron coronavirus variant, captain Virat Kohli said on Thursday. Sport in SA began to shut down last week due to Omicron, amid travel bans and restrictions on flights that had rugby teams and golfers scrambling to leave the country.

India’s national team cricketers expect to know in the next few days if their tour of SA will go ahead in late December after the emergence in the country of the Omicron coronavirus variant, captain Virat Kohli said on Thursday.

Sport in SA began to shut down last week due to Omicron, amid travel bans and restrictions on flights that had rugby teams and golfers scrambling to leave the country.

SA are set to host India in a three-Test series starting in Johannesburg on December 17 followed by three ODIs and four Twenty20 matches.

“We’re not playing in normal times anyway,” Kohli told reporters ahead of India’s second and final Test against New Zealand in Mumbai from Friday. “So there’s a lot of planning involved. There’s a lot of preparation involved in terms of understanding going on.

“There are players who are not part of the group right now who will be entering quarantine to join the team in the bubble to fly in a charter [aircraft], those kinds of things. You want to seek clarity as soon as possible.”

Indian cricket board (BCCI) chief Sourav Ganguly last week exactly what’s said they were monitoring the situation in SA. When asked if there were discussions to postpone the India tour, Ganguly’s Cricket SA counterpart Graeme Smith told reporters: “Nothing like this has been discussed.”

Kohli said coach Rahul Dravid has initiated discussions among the senior members of the Indian squad on the tour. “We’ve been talking to the board and we are pretty confident within a day or two or pretty soon we’ll have absolute clarity as to what is going on,” he said.

“But we need to be realistic about things as well. We cannot just ignore the things that potentially could put you in a confusing place and no-one wants to be there. So I’m sure everyone’s working hard towards finding clarity and giving us the situation as it unfolds as soon as possible. And we all are hopeful that will happen soon.”

Cricket SA postponed all three Division Two matches of the 4-Day Domestic Series that were scheduled to start on Thursday across the country.

According to the fixture list, Eastern Cape Iinyathi were to host Northern Cape Heat at Buffalo Park, East London, and South Western Districts were to take on Limpopo Impalas in Polokwane. In the other match of round four, Mpumalanga Rhinos were to host Eastern Storm in White River.

Cricket SA said it postponed the matches as the competition was not being held in a biosecure environment and there were positive Covid-19 test results after team pre-arrival testing over the last few days.

“Activating the precautionary and preventive measures stipulated in the organisation’s Covid19 protocols to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all involved is a priority for Cricket SA. “CSA is monitoring the situation closely and a decision regarding the remainder of the fixtures this year will be made in due course as it develops.

“The Cricket SA B-section three-day and one-day matches featuring Northerns and Easterns set for the same weekend have also been postponed until 2022,” said Cricket SA. /

SO I’M SURE EVERYONE’S WORKING HARD TOWARDS FINDING CLARITY … WE ALL ARE HOPEFUL THAT WILL HAPPEN SOON

Virat Kohli India captain

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2021-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

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