India's tour of South Africa confirmed, Zimbabwe to play the Boxing Day Test

Cricket South Africa have confirmed the schedule for India’s tour of South Africa, which will take place next year. The new year Test match will be played on 5th January at Newlands. India will play a 3-Test match series against Proteas. The men in blue will play 6 ODIs and 3 T20Is later next year. It was earlier reported that both the teams will play a series of 4-Test matches but the recent changes resulted in an additional ODI as compensation.

The release further stated, “The time constraints faced by India have forced us to reduce the Test matches to three while increasing white ball cricket to six ODIs and three T20I matches.”

Post the home series against Sri Lanka; which is supposed to end in the last week of December, the India team will travel to South Africa on 28th of December. India will play a two-day practice match at Boland Park on December 30 and 31.

Zimbabwe likely to play boxing day Test match

CSA have also invited Zimbabwe for a four-day Day-Night Test at St. George’s Park. The Test status for that contest though will be subject to approval from the International Cricket Council. “To ensure we do not disappoint our loyal fans over the traditional Boxing Day period and to take advantage of our brand-new lights at St George’s Park, we will host Zimbabwe in the first ever 4-day D/N Test match to be played. The Test status of the match is subject to ICC approval.”CSA Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said

“We have now finalised the fixtures for a very busy home summer of international cricket,” Lorgat said. “The Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela Test series starts at Newlands on Friday, January 5 and will be a series to be watched as the number 1 and 2 best ranked teams in the world challenge for the Freedom Trophy.” he added.

This will give us a total of 10 home Test matches this summer against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, India and Australia, making this our busiest home Test season ever. “The extensive revamping of our international grounds are on schedule and the D/N Test match promises to be a world-class experience for the players and fans. “The Proteas are currently ranked No. 1 and India No. 3 in ODI cricket, so fans will have the chance to see great cricket in the limited overs format too,” concluded Lorgat.