The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has set a Sunday deadline to make a decision on the men's team's tour of South Africa later this month, according to NDTV.
The rising cases of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, has put the three Test, three ODI and four T20I series in doubt with the Indian board keen on playing a two-Test series instead of three matches, to be able to wait a little longer before making a decision on the departure of the team, reports Times of India.
The first Test is scheduled to be played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg starting 17 December with the tour extending for a month and ending with the fourth T20I on 16 January at Boland Park in Paarl. The team is scheduled to depart on 9 December on a chartered flight.
Players Concerned
Indian Test and ODI skipper Virat Kohli admitted on Thursday that the players have a lot of concerns on this issue, the bubble life and SOPs considering the ever-evolving situation and they are in regular touch with the Indian cricket board for information.
Kohli said that they are waiting for clarity from the BCCI and that chief coach Rahul Dravid has initiated a discussion in the team to understand their concerns and communicate them to the BCCI.
"It's pretty clear that we are not playing in normal times. There are a lot of things, a lot of concerns among players, especially those who are coming into the squad as they want to know about bubble life, the various restrictions. Rahul (Dravid) bhai has initiated a conversation in the group regarding this and is also in touch with BCCI regarding the concerns of the players.
"In the next 1-2 days there will be more clarity on this matter. We cannot ignore things as they stand and are developing," he said.
The India A team is currently playing a series in South Africa and the BCCI has not given any indication that they are planning to pull the team out of the tour.
Cricket South Africa Gives Assurances
In a bid to assure the world about bio-bubble arrangements ahead of a very important series against India, Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Wednesday released a statement about their capabilities of organising the India tour in high-quality bio-bubbles, giving example of how the men's team has been in bio-bubbles at home and away ever since the pandemic began. "CSA has instituted world-class standards and measures to ensure all players, staff and officials are protected within this environment.
"Our main focus was to safeguard the cricket biosphere by managing strict entry standards and limited movement outside its cordon. What we have implemented at our BSE (bio-secure environment) is a cordon sanitaire which offers full and continuous protection to all individuals who respect and abide by our very demanding guidelines and rules," said CSA's chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra.
South Africa Test skipper Dean Elgar has expressed his confidence in bio-bubble measures taken by the CSA, saying that the team has given results despite them taking a toll mentally.
"It's hard to believe we've been working in these BSE conditions for a year now, but anyone who has been affected, either directly or indirectly by the Covid-19 virus, knows this is a necessity if we want to continue playing cricket. It takes a toll on a player mentally and yet this team continues to produce good results and make progress. That's something I don't think is being spoken about enough.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)