Former SA skipper urges India to continue South Africa tour; 'Future generation needs it'

The discovery of a new variant of the COVID-19 virus in South Africa has become the reason behind many teams cancelling their tours or series in the country. With British Government announcing that the country has been blacklisted, India’s upcoming tour of South Africa is the latest series to come under concern. Amid the speculations, former South African skipper and batter Farhaan Behardien took to his official Twitter handle on Friday and urged India not to cancel the tour.

Expressing his thoughts in the tweet, Behardien said he hopes the biggest cricketing nation in the world tours his country next month. Urging India to continue with their scheduled tour, Behardien added that the country’s future generation and the South African players need the tour to happen more than ever. Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hasn’t cancelled the tour till now, however, it remains unsure until thorough research is done. India will tour South Africa for a three-match Test series followed by a three-match ODI series and a four-match T20I series.

India face South Africa in a three-match unofficial Test series

Speaking on the tour in concern, a senior board official while talking to PTI said, “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.” Before the Indian Test team play their first Test match on December 17, the second-string Indian team, India A play three unofficial Test matches against South Africa A, from November 23 to December 9. The new COVID-19 variant has put sports events in South Africa under serious concerns as two rounds of the United Rugby Championship were previously postponed after teams from Wales, Italy and Ireland made their way back to their nation. At the same time, the Netherlands has played a rain-affected ODI against South Africa, but the rest of the tour remains in doubt as of now.

(Image: BCCI)