CSA allows India to pull out of SA tour if Covid situation worsens

CRICKET South Africa (CSA), which thanked India for sending its team for a full-fledged cricket tour starting this month despite the Omicron scare, has given permission to Team India to return home midway during the tour if the Covid-19 situation in the African nation worsens.

India are set to play South Africa in a three-Test and three-one-day international series starting December 26. They were originally supposed to play a T20 international series as well but it was curtailed later as the starting date was postponed.

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CSA’s chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra has said that it is open for the visiting team to leave South Africa at any point if they wanted.

“If there needs to be repatriation and the borders are closed, the government has given a guarantee that they will allow the players and the team to go back to India,” South African news outlet News24 quoted Manjra as saying.

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“I think we’ve taken whatever measures we can to ensure that the Indian team is not only safe here, but should they need to leave for whatever reason, that the path is open for them to leave at any point that they wish,” he added.

Earlier this month, CSA reportedly offered Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for the members of the Indian squad if they needed them, a report in News24 said.

The South African board also said that owing to the increasing Covid-19 cases around the world and the fourth wave locally, it took a joint decision with its Indian counterpart BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) to protect the players and the tour by not making tickets available for the upcoming series.

On Monday (20), CSA confirmed that Mzansi Super League, South Africa’s domestic T20 tournament which was scheduled for February 2022 was called off.

The decision was taken owing to the Covid-19 environment which has made it challenging to maintain the brand proposition of being a premium T20 tournament, which also includes international players, owing to increased travel restrictions which many countries have imposed on South Africa after the Omicron variant was first found on its soil.

Virat Kohli will lead India in the Test series while Rohit Sharma, who will miss the Tests due to a hamstring injury, is supposed to lead in the three one-day international matches.

South Africa pacer Anrich Nortje was also ruled out of the Test series on grounds of injury.