South Africa’s lucrative three match T20 International series against India looks likely to be hosted in March next year, as the global cricket calendar tries to reset amidst the easing of Covid-19 lockdown measures around the world.
The series was a late edition to the calendar, following talks between Cricket SA and the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and would have been ideal preparation for both teams ahead of the T20 World Cup scheduled for late October/early November in Australia. More importantly for CSA, it would have added in the region of R150-million to its coffers, which have been hard hit in recent years.
However the coronavirus lockdown has drastically changed all of that, and while CSA were confident they could host the series in a ‘bio bubble,’ the fact that international travel remains limited and that India is - like South Africa - showing a surge in new cases, makes hosting a series in August, highly unlikely.
Cricket SA has stated that negotiations with the BCCI have been good, and that the Indian cricket body remains keen for the tour to take place. Crucially, broadcasters are also amenable to the series taking place in March 2021. There are a number of factors that will be taken into the equation, most notably the likely rescheduling of the World T20 tournament.
Cricket Australia’s chairman, Earl Eddings admitted last week that staging the event during the originally scheduled dates was “unrealistic.”
The ICC has held a number of meetings regarding the tournament recently and Cricket Australia expects the sport’s mother body to make an announcement about new dates for the competition next month.