India to tour South Africa for three tests, three ODIs; T20Is to be held later

New Delhi : BCCI on Saturday announced that India will tour South Africa for three tests and three ODIs; the earlier planned T20Is will be held later.

"BCCI has confirmed CSA that the Indian team will travel for three Tests and three ODIs. The remaining four T20Is will be played at a later date," Shah told ANI.

Some reports earlier claimed that the South Africa tour of India may be pushed to a later date due to Omicron variant.

A BCCI member had earlier told news agency ANI that the both the boards are in touch with each other to make a decision on it keeping in mind the safety of the players. 

"We are discussing to push back the series by a week due to the threat of Omicron COVID variant and we are awaiting the Indian government nod, both boards are in constant touch and everything is being discussed. The health and safety of our players is of utmost importance," the senior official had told ANI.

Earlier, Team India was scheduled to tour South Africa for three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is.

The World Health Organization (WHO) named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as 'Omicron'. This came after the WHO held a meeting to discuss the newly-identified COVID-19 variant.