India's tour of South Africa might be pushed to 2018
What's the story?
The India-South Africa series that was to be held at the end of this year might just get pushed to the early months of 2018, courtesy Sri Lanka's upcoming tour of India.
The India-Sri Lanka series was first scheduled for March 2018, but the Sri Lankan Cricket Board requested BCCI to prepone the series as they are expected to host a tri-nation Independence Cup in the said period.
Sri Lanka will now visit India in November and are scheduled to play three Tests, five ODIs and a one-off T20I against the hosts on that tour.
“The South Africa tour is on. There is some back and forth on dates, but it will be a full tour and that has been locked in,” Rahul Johri, the BCCI CEO told PTI.
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India have a long season ahead of them as they are set to host Australia, New Zealand Sri Lanka this year.
They will play a record 23 home matches at home during the said period. The Australian and New Zealand tours will be restricted to just limited overs cricket.
The details
India's tour of South Africa will be a full-fledged affair that will have four Tests, five ODIs and three T20I games.
It will be India's first real overseas series under captain Virat Kohli and it is sure to be a stern Test for the 28-year-old. He has only toured the Caribbean and Sri Lankan islands for Test series till now and is still to conquer tougher overseas grounds.
What's next?
India are close to whitewashing Sri Lanka in the ongoing Test series and will look to close out the third and final Test as early as tomorrow.
They will soon play 5 ODIs and a single-off T20 against the hosts. This tour will be followed by a limited overs series against the Australians, which will be an important trying-and-testing ground for the Indian team management with respect to the impending ICC ODI World Cup of 2019.
Author's take
Unless Kohli and Co. manage to conquer tough overseas tours, their team will not live up to their World No. 1 ranking in Tests. Postponing the South Africa tour might not be the best step in this case, as it will keep pushing the big matches far from the Indian team.
Most of India's Test cricketers are in excellent nick right now and they shouldn't feel stressed, tired or exhausted before an important venture like the South African tour.