IND vs SA: Virat Kohli & Co. flies off to South Africa for Test series; See pics

The Indian cricket team, which consists of men's Test and ODI players, left Mumbai on Thursday for their tour of South Africa. The Indian squad flew to Johannesburg on a chartered flight organised by the BCCI, which shared photos of their departure on social media. After landing in the Rainbow nation, where the new Omicron COVID-19 variant emerged a month ago, the Virat Kohli-led Co. is slated to enter a one-day isolation phase. Before travelling for South Africa, Indian players have previously completed a three-day harsh quarantine period.

In the pictures shared by the BCCI, several key Indian players including the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Umesh Yadav can be seen posing for the camera. "All buckled up South Africa bound #TeamIndia #SAvIND," the caption of the post read. 

India's tour of South Africa

India's Tour of South Africa will feature a three-match Test series followed by as many ODI games. India and South Africa were originally scheduled to play four T20 internationals as well, however, due to the sudden emergence of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant, the BCCI and CSA agreed to postpone the T20I series. 

Earlier this month, the BCCI announced the squad for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. In its initial squad, the BCCI had named white-ball captain Rohit Sharma as the deputy of the Test side; however, due to injury concerns, the Mumbai batter was replaced by Priyank Panchal. Ajinkya Rahane was the vice-captain before but he is travelling as a pure batter for the tour of South Africa. Rohit will continue to lead in the ODI series. 

India’s Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Priyank Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj

Tests: 

1st Test: 26-30 December, Centurion

2nd test: 3-7 January, Johannesburg

3rd Test: 11-15 January, Cape Town

ODIs:

1st ODI: 19 January, Paarl

2nd ODI: 21 January, Paarl

3rd ODI: 23 January, Cape Town

Image: BCCI/Twitter