The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has temporarily put the Squad Selection on hold For India’s Tour of South Africa, which is set to begin on December 17, 2021.
Due to the spread of a new variant of the Covid-19 virus called Omicron in South Africa, India's tour of SA is on the edge of being postponed.
According to some media reports, the squad selection meeting was supposed to be after the Kanpur test.
Before flying to South Africa, players who were on rest for the ongoing 2-match series against New Zealand were supposed to go through an 8-day quarantine. So far, no communication has been made with the players.
“Cricket South Africa (CSA) and their government are doing everything to ensure the tour goes on. But BCCI is awaiting the nod from the central government. Things will be clear in a couple of days. The players too need to be assured of the arrangements. The board doesn’t want a repeat of what happened in Manchester when an outbreak within the camp got the players traveling with their families worried,”a top BCCI official said.
According to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, the tour remains on schedule as the board monitors what's happening in South Africa.
“The tour is on as things stand till now. We still have time to decide. The first Test is scheduled on December 17. We will ponder about it. Players’ security and health has always been BCCI’s first priority, we will do everything possible for this. We will see what happens in the days to come,” Ganguly said.
The India 'A' squad is already in Africa playing an unofficial test series. They're going to keep playing. The squad for the senior team was supposed to be announced after the first test against New Zealand.