The India vs South Africa series, which will begin from December 26 to January 23, will not have fans at the stadiums due to rising concerns over the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The India vs South Africa series will see no fans in attendance at the four venues due to fears of the coronavirus pandemic. The tour will start on December 26 and end on January 23 with three Tests and three ODIs. The Tests will be played in Johannesburg, Centurion, and Cape Town. The ODIs will be played in Paarl and Cape Town. However, two out of the four venues are in Gauteng province, the hotbed of the latest surge of the Omicron variant in the coronavirus pandemic.
In a release issued by Cricket South Africa, it stated that it was with regret that fans would not be allowed to come to the stadiums. “Owing to the increasing Covid cases around the world, and the fourth wave locally, the two cricketing bodies have taken a joint decision to protect the players and the tour by NOT making tickets available for the India vs Proteas offerings. This decision was taken in order to avoid any breaches that could compromise the tour from a Covid-risk perspective and to also maintain a hazard-free bubble environment,” the statement said.
Cricket South Africa, though, has made alternate arrangements for the fans. There will be public viewing activations from which fans can see the games. It will be like fan theme parks in which people can view the action virtually. However, the arrangement is all subject to approvals from the Government.
Read | Rohit Sharma replaces Virat Kohli as Team India’s captain in ODIs
The lack of fans is bad news for Cricket South Africa. For the second year in a row, there will be no fans in attendance. This decision comes in the wake of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) being canceled for this season over coronavirus fears. The series was in danger of being canceled altogether after new fears over the Omicron variant emerged in November. But, the BCCI assured Cricket South Africa that India would commit to the tour.
Yes, the original start of the series was supposed to be on December 17. But, due to the omicron variant, India suspended all flights to South Africa and put the country in high risk. All commercial flights were suspended until January 31. With so much uncertainty, the tour was postponed by nine days. This impacted the T20I schedule as the four Twenty20 Internationals were postponed. The series will now consist of only three Tests and ODIs.
The Indian cricket team was in quarantine for three days. The Indian team arrived in South Africa on December 16. After finishing their three-day quarantine, the Indian cricket team took part in plenty of practice sessions.
Before the start of the South Africa tour, the Indian cricket team was on a high after beating New Zealand 1-0 in the two-Test series recently. However, things all went downhill from that point in time. Virat Kohli was unceremoniously sacked as the ODI captain as well. Rohit Sharma was handed the full-time captaincy of the white ball team. Kohli was retained as the Test captain. This fueled rumors of a rift. The BCCI has been accused of ‘humiliating’ Kohli. At the same time, the situation was compounded when Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the Tests due to a hamstring injury.
South Africa remains the only country where India has never won a Test series. India has won three Tests since they started playing Tests in South Africa in 1992. Out of the three Test wins, India has won two in Johannesburg and one match in Durban. India’s best result was in 2010 in which they drew the series 1-1. India only managed to win a Test in South Africa after 14 years. In 2006, Rahul Dravid was the captain who gave India history. But, this might be the best chance for India to win a series and complete the world domination.
This is the second consecutive summer in which South Africa has seen series played in closed doors. The series against Sri Lanka and the white-ball tour by Pakistan saw no fans at the stadium. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the South Africa vs Australia ODI series saw crowds in big attendance. But, recently, in the series against the Netherlands, there was a crowd of 2000 allowed for the ODI series. However, the first ODI saw just over 450 people attend and the match was called off due to rain. The entire series was postponed due to the omicron surge in the country.
When the Omicron surge was reported around November-December, the country was reporting close to 20,000 cases every day. In the last 24 hours, about 8500 active cases have been reported.
