BCCI puts selection meeting for South Africa tour on hold after COVID-19 scare

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has delayed its selection meeting for the upcoming tour of South Africa after the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, has come to the fore. As of now, South Africa is being deemed as a ‘risk country’ after the emergence of the fresh new variant.

The BCCI was set to hold the selection meeting after India’s opening Test against New Zealand at the Green Park in Kanpur. The players, who aren’t a part of the series, were asked to go through a five-day quarantine before joining the bio-secure bubble on December 8.

After the conclusion of the T20I series, the likes of Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Shami were told that they would have to go into quarantine in Mumbai on December 3. However, after the recent development, the BCCI is yet to send out a clear message to them.

In the meantime, Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), South Africa’s Foreign Ministry, thanked the BCCI for not pulling out of India A’s tour of South Africa. It also assured Team India of taking care of arrangements and creating safe bio-bubbles for the senior teams.

“South Africa will take all precautions necessary to ensure the health and safety of the Indian teams. A full Bio-secure environment will be established around both the South African and Indian ‘A’ Teams as well as the two National Teams.

“India’s decision to show solidarity by choosing to continue with the tour of the Indian ‘A’ Team stands in contrast with a number of countries who have decided to close their borders and to restrict travel from Southern African…,” the statement read.

BCCI keeping fingers crossed on South Africa tour

However, as per reports in the Times of India, the BCCI, also the world’s richest cricket board, is awaiting a call from the central government regarding the upcoming international tour.

“Cricket South Africa and their government are doing everything to ensure the tour goes on. But BCCI is awaiting 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 travelling with their families jittery,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying.