Picture Credit: Twitter
The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on cricket with many matches getting cancelled. The recent seasons of IPL and PSL were suspended midway due to outbreak of the virus before the leagues got completed in UAE. India's final Test against England was postponed due to the same reason but a nation which has been affected the most, especially in cricket, is South Africa.
After Australia had decided to cancel their SA tour due to concerns regarding the pandemic in the country, Cricket South Africa (CSA) had to face lot of financial losses as a result. However, just when they were slowly getting the things back on track, a new variant of COVID-19 has struck the country putting question marks over their upcoming cricket calendar.
Netherlands abandon ongoing ODI series vs South Africa
The present situation in the country is not very positive with the number of cases constantly increasing. Amid all this, Netherlands have also decided to leave the country after the 1st ODI which is being played on Friday. Notably, the Dutch were slated to play a 3-match ODI series but their board has decided to call the team back to ensure safety of their players.
Hence, it has put the highly-anticipated India's tour of South Africa under threat as well. India are scheduled to play 3 Tests, 3 ODIs and 4 T20Is from December 17 to January 26 but the pandemic situation in the country has put the series under clouds of doubt.
BCCI in talks with Cricket South Africa regarding the whole situation
“Look, till we get a detailed picture of the ground situation from Cricket South Africa (CSA), we will not be able to tell our next step. As per the current plan, the Indian team is supposed to leave either on December 8 or 9 just after the New Zealand series gets over in Mumbai,” a senior BCCI official said as quoted by TOI.
“Initially, there was no provision for hard quarantine but obviously the players will remain in a bio-bubble. Now with cases rising in South Africa and the European Union also canceling flights temporarily, we need to factor in these aspects,” the source added.
As per reports, BCCI is in constant talks with the players and team management of India A, who are currently in South Africa. Although everyone is safe, the board is quite concerned about the situation in the country and they will take steps in coming days, if required, after discussing the whole situation with Cricket South Africa (CSA).