India tour of South Africa – Are Indian Players Reluctant? Indian cricket team officially is scheduled to fly via chartered flight on 9th December to South Africa. But the info coming in from the team India camp is that few players are ‘reluctant & apprehensive’ about the travel. Follow Insidesport.IN for all updates on the India vs South Africa series.
India tour of South Africa: Few Indian players ‘reluctant to travel’, BCCI says ‘players view-point will be taken seriously’
Are Indian Players Reluctant? With just 5 days to go before the scheduled travel, neither the BCCI selectors have selected the team for South Africa – nor the players have been informed about the exact itineary.
The worry for the Indian camp is that the virus in South Africa has spike up as country reported 8561 new infections on Wednesday as compared to 4373 on Tuesday.
“Obviously players are concerned, little reluctant as well. BCCI as always will take viewpoint of the players in consideration before making any decision on the tour. We are hopeful tour will go ahead as scheduled. Let’s wait for 24-48 hours for more clarity & the final decision”, said the BCCI official
Indian captain on Wednesday also openly admitted that the discussion in the Indian team camp also has been initiated about the travel to South Africa.
Speaking to the media, the Indian captain said, “We are not playing in normal times anyway. So there is a lot of planning that is involved, a lot of preparation that is involved. There are players who are not part of the group right now who will be entering quarantine to join the team bubble to fly on a charter (flight).”
He added, “Those kind of things you want to seek clarity on as soon as possible. So we have spoken to all the senior members of the squad. Obviously, Rahul bhai has initiated a conversation within the group, which is very important.”
It is worth noting that earlier earlier this year citing COVID-19 concerns for the fifth Test vs England at Manchester – Indian team refused to take the field. This is the reason, BCCI also is keen to understand the point of view of the players & will take the decision accordingly in next day or two.
Cricket South Africa confidently declares ‘Indian team coming to SA next week’
India Tour of South Africa: Contrary to the information coming in from the BCCI and the Indian camp, Cricket South Africa’s acting CEO Pholetsi Moseki is confident that the Indian team will be landing in South Africa as scheduled next week.
According to him neither the tour is getting postponed, nor it will be curtailed or reduced.
“We’ve been hearing things across various platforms, but the BCCI hasn’t come to us and it is pure speculation,” Moseki said.
“We speak to the BCCI daily and I guess one must wait until there is full confirmation. They are also chartering a flight here and won’t be needing commercial flight space.
“We’re still hoping to expect our visitors to arrive this time next week.”
But Cricket and various other sporting events have already fallen victim to the virus in South Africa. CSA themselves postponed series against Netherlands, various domestice cricket fixtures also have been cancelled in last 48 hours due to virus.
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