The Indian team will undergo a three-day quarantine before taking off for South Africa. Cricbuzz has learnt that the members of the South Africa-bound squad have been asked to check into a five star hotel near the Mumbai International Airport by Sunday (December 12) evening to fulfil the bio-security protocols. The team will leave for Johannesburg on Wednesday (December 16) by a charter flight.
India will play three Tests and three ODIs but at this point of time only the members of the Test squad will fly to South Africa. Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswallam, Hanuma Vihari and Vivek Ramakrishna (trainer), all members of the India A squad that just returned from a three-game series in Bloemfontein, have stayed back in South Africa. The above mentioned are either part of the touring party or players who have been drafted as standbys.
The incident-free A tour to South Africa has emboldened the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the members for travelling to the country that is reeling under Omicron, a new and deadlier variant of COVID-19. The CSA has also promised to leave nothing to chance on the implementation of BSE protocols.
Some members of the squad underwent a mini-camp in at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai under India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey. Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Shardul Thakur took part in the camp facilitated by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) in the city. The first of the three Tests starts in Centurion on the Boxing Day (December 26). Wanderers in Johannesburg and Newlands in Cape Town will host other two Tests.
Meanwhile, the India A squad avoided landing in Mumbai and flew directly to Ahmedabad from Bloemfontein to avoid strict quarantine protocols in Maharashtra.