India tour of South Africa: Cricket South Africa’s director Graeme Smith believes that the Indian visit to South Africa for multiple bilateral series will help in the revival process of the cricket operations of the country.
South Africa incurred difficult losses in the recent past due to the pullout of England from the ODI series, last November. In quick succession, Cricket Australia also dropped their tour to South Africa for three Test matches during February and March.
Team India will visit South Africa from December 2021 to January 2022 for three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is fixtures.
Smith, director of CSA, believes that India’s tour to South Africa towards the end of 2021 will be huge for the country in every aspect. India under Virat Kohli has already pulled out brilliant results in its away tours. Moreover, India hasn’t been able to win a test series in South Africa, which will fuel the desires of the cricketers to put up some exciting contests.
The former cricketer didn’t forget to mention that the cricket board is also pushing hard to bring the fans back into the stadium for the entire tour. The vaccination programmes are in full flow and the board is hoping to see fans for the matches against India.
“Having India here at the end of the year is a huge tour for us. It’s not only from cricket perspective where their results over a period of time has been exciting away from home, which is unique for an Indian team. They have never won here and that adds a lot to the flavour of the Test summer. It’s a huge tour for Cricket SA which is trying to rebuild itself from a challenging time. The chairman and the board have been in a number of meetings around it. We are certainly pushing hard to get crowds back for that series.”
“I watched some videos in the first part of the seminar and looking back at the full stadiums, the energy and the vibe, and we certainly want to get that back there by the end of the year. We have done our bit in terms of pushing vaccinations and hopefully, we can crowds back by the end of the year. Let’s hold thumbs!,” said Graeme Smith on their efforts to bring fans back.
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