SA-India 1st Test to be held in Centurion: Cricket South Africa

CRICKET South Africa (CSA) on Monday (6) announced an updated schedule of India’s tour of the African nation with Centurion hosting the first of the three Tests starting on Boxing Day, December 26.

The CSA, along with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), announced last Saturday (4) that the tour will go ahead despite the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in South Africa but it was postponed by a week and the four T20 internationals that were part of the itinerary were omitted as of now. They will be played on a later date this year.

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The Indian squad was originally scheduled to leave for South Africa on December 9 but the schedule was changed which means the Test series will now begin on December 26 and not December 17 as it was planned earlier.

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“It is a pleasure for CSA to confirm the updated schedule for the India men’s tour to South Africa,” the CSA said in a statement.

“As announced over the weekend, the tour has been reduced from three series to two; the Betway Test and One-Day International series, taking place from 26 December to 23 January 2022 across four venues, following successful engagement with the BCCI.

“The four-match KFC T20I series will be rescheduled for a more opportune time in the new year,” it added.

The second Test will be played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg between January 3 and 7 while the concluding match will be held at Newlands, Cape Town, between January 11 and 15.

The Test series will be followed by three one-day international matches at Boland Park, Paarl on January 19 and 21 respectively and Cape Town on January 23.

The Test series will be part of the new cycle of the ICC World Test Championship while the one-day matches will be under the ICC World Cup Super League – a qualifying tournament for the 2023 World Cup. India though have guaranteed entry into that tournament since they are the hosts.

India have never won a Test series in South Africa till date and lost the last series they played in South Africa 1-2 in 2018.

The Schedule of the 2021 India tour of South Africa:

1st Test (December 26-30): Centurion

2nd Test (January 03-07): Johannesburg

3rd Test (January 11-15, 2022): Cape Town

1st ODI (January 19): Paarl

2nd ODI (January 21): Paarl

3rd ODI (January 23): Cape Town