While the Indian women’s cricket team get ready to face the South African side in March, both countries cricket boards are contemplating numerous games between the two countries for the men’s side as well and several exchanges of communication to that effect have happened as well.
While on TV commentary during the domestic T20 cup, Graeme Smith, Cricket South Africa’s Director of Cricket, outlined a busy international programme after this year's IPL, while continuing to acknowledge the fallout from the indefinitely postponed three-Test series against Australia, which was scheduled for March.
"Myself and Sourav (Ganguly, the BCCI president) go a long way back and we've had a number of conversations," Smith was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.
"India have been very supportive of us. Hopefully, in the next cycle we will have a number of tours against India that are actually pretty close to being finalised.”
"Tom Harrison and the ECB have been brilliant as well. Even the handling of the England situation (when England left South Africa in December without playing three ODIs on their white-ball tour) was good. That has already been rescheduled. There has been a joint resolution and understanding of that.
"But Australia have been the one that has stood out in terms of the difficulties, and we never found the same sense of working together as we did with the others. We've also got to ask some hard questions of them and challenge them as well. That's important for world cricket."
South Africa have lodged a formal complaint against Australia with the ICC and want financial compensation, assurances that countries would be obliged to fulfil their fixtures and not unilaterally pull out, to avoid the big three of India, England and Australia monopolising the international calendar, and for all ICC members to work together to get as much cricket played as possible.
South Africa were incidentally in India in March last year but had to return after the first ODI as the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a screeching halt. But they are scheduled to host India for three Tests in the 2021-22 summer.
South Africa, who are currently in talks with Sri Lanka and West Indies for bilateral tours, will host Pakistan in a white-ball tour in the first half of April.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)