Mumbai: Members of the Indian cricket team will have a lot more clarity in the next couple of days on the upcoming tour of South Africa considering the health scare in the country due to the emergence of a new variant of the novel coronavirus.
India Test and ODI skipper Virat Kohli admitted that the players have a lot of concerns on this issue, the bubble life and SOPs considering the ever-evolving situation and they are in regular touch with the Indian cricket board for information.
There are a lot of concerns worldwide over the detection of a new coronavirus variant called Omicron in South Africa and many countries have pulled out their sports teams from the country and many others have banned international travel to and from South Africa.
The Indian team is scheduled to fly out on December 9 on a chartered flight and the BCCI has maintained that the tour is currently on and that they are in constant touch with Cricket South Africa and the Indian government regarding the developments.
Amidst reports that the tour may be delayed by a few days, Kohli said that they are waiting for clarity from the BCCI. He said the players do have concerns regarding the tour, the new variant of Covid-19, the restrictions that would be in place, and that chief coach Rahul Dravid has initiated a discussion in the team to understand their concerns and communicate them to the BCCI.
“It’s pretty clear that we are not playing in normal times. There are a lot of things, a lot of concerns among players, especially those who are coming into the squad as they want to know about bubble life, the various restrictions. Rahul (Dravid) bhai has initiated a conversation in the group regarding this and is also in touch with BCCI regarding the concerns of the players.
“In the next 1-2 days there will be more clarity on this matter. We cannot ignore things as they stand and are developing,” he said.
The India A team is currently playing a series in South Africa and the BCCI has not given any indication that they are planning to pull the team out of the tour.
(IANS)