Paarl, Cape Town to host ODI leg of India tour

Paarl and Cape Town will host the three-match ODI series between South Africa and India in January 2022. The first two games will be played at Boland Park on January 19 and January 21 followed by the series finale at Newlands on January 23. However, the three-match series will not be part of the Men's World Cup Super League and will instead be played as a bilateral series.

As reported by Cricday earlier this week, Newlands will also host the third Test that will run from January 11 to January 15. The tour will kick off with the Boxing Day Test at Centurion, with Johannesburg slated to stage the second Test from January 3 to January 7 as part of a rejigged tour.

The four T20Is that were also part of the original schedule will be "rescheduled for a more opportune time in the new year," a CSA release said.

There had been doubts around the tour because of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 discovered in South Africa, which has coincided with a surge in cases and hospitalisations, especially in the Gauteng province where India are scheduled to play the first two Tests.

Netherlands had recently cut short their tour of three ODIs and flown home since many countries, especially within the European Union, had imposed travel restrictions on southern Africa.

CSA had also postponed three games of round four of Division 2 four-day matches after some players tested positive. The one-day matches due to take place on December 16 were also pushed back to 2022.

The India A squad that is touring South Africa, however, has stayed back in the country for three four-day games in Bloemfontein. The third game got underway on Monday.

When exactly the BCCI and CSA agree to play the four T20Is remains to be seen as another T20 World Cup is approaching in 2022, and both teams already have packed schedules for 2022.