"We are pushing hard to get the crowds back for the India series" - CSA director Graeme Smith
Cricket South Africa (CSA) director Graeme Smith has highlighted the importance of the home series against India later this year. India will play South Africa in three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is from December 2021 to January 2022.
The CSA had already suffered significant financial losses as England refused to participate in the ODI series last November due to the COVID-19 scare. Post that, Australia also abandoned their visit to play three Tests from February to March. Hence, Smith thinks India's tour forms an integral part of the Proteas' recovery process.
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Graeme Smith believes the Indian team's visit will have a significant bearing as they aim to succeed in South Africa for the first time. Hence, Smith feels the crowd presence should provide an epic scene as CSA hopes to revive itself from a financial meltdown. The former Proteas skipper said, as quoted by iol.co.za:
"Having India here at the end of the year is a huge tour for us. It's not only from cricket perspective where their results over a period of time has been exciting away from home, which is unique for an Indian team. They have never won here and that adds a lot to the flavour of the Test summer. It's a huge tour for Cricket SA which is trying to rebuild itself from a challenging time. The chairman and the board have been in a number of meetings around it. We are certainly pushing hard to get crowds back for that series."
India have indeed not won a Test series in South Africa to date. However, Virat Kohli's men have a genuine chance to topple the Proteas on this occasion as their overseas results have vastly improved.
We have done our bit in terms of pushing vaccinations: Graeme Smith
Graeme Smith said his mind is fixed on getting the vibes back in the stadium by the end of the year and feels their efforts to push people to get vaccinated should reap success. The 40-year old added:
"I watched some videos in the first part of the seminar and looking back at the full stadiums, the energy and the vibe, and we certainly want to get that back there by the end of the year. We have done our bit in terms of pushing vaccinations and hopefully, we can crowds back by the end of the year. Let's hold thumbs!"
After cancelations from England and Australia, the Proteas hosted Sri Lanka and Pakistan. But most of those games were behind closed doors and for those where crowds were allowed into the stadium, the numbers weren't enormous.