India had a terrible outing in South Africa where they had to suffer a 1-2 loss in Tests and 0-3 humiliation in ODIs. A tour which badly dented the Men in Blue's confidence and exposed India's batting & bowling apparent weaknesses. But India have one more chance to avenge their humiliation as they will again be pitted against Proteas for the five-match T20 right after the 15th edition of the glitzy Indian Premier League.
India will host South Africa from June 9, 2022 to June 9, 2022, right before the side flies to England for a full-fledged limited-overs assignment.
The venues for the five-match T20I series against South Africa will be Chennai, Cuttack, Vizag, Rajkot, and Delhi. The Apex Council of the BCCI also stated that the venues for the series were confirmed keeping in mind the weather conditions that will be prevailing.
An official stated that this limited-overs series between the two sides is a part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP), and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had decided that the series will be played after the conclusion of the IPL on 29th May 2022.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already stated that the IPL will be held in Mumbai and Pune from March 26 to May 29 and just about 10 days later the Twenty20 series against South Africa will start. This is part of the FTP and this is to be played after the IPL,” said the BCCI official.
The Indian team will be brimming with confidence after back-to-back wins over Sri Lanka and West Indies in the shortest format of the game. The streak could be good from India’s perspective as they seek to prepare for the T20 World Cup which is set to kick off in Australia from October this year.
The Apex Council has also approved the conduct of the CK Nayudu Trophy, Senior Women's T20 League and Cooch Behar Trophy games. The schedule for two of the aforementioned tournaments has also been finalized. These events had to be postponed from January-February because of the spread and threat of the Omicron wave.
CK Nayudu Trophy (for Under 25 men), with eight Elite Groups of four teams each and one Plate Group of five teams, will be held from March 15 to May 1. The Senior Women's T20 league, with five Elite Groups of six teams each and one Plate Group of seven teams, will be played from April 15 to May 12. The schedule for the knockout games of the Under 19 Cooch Behar Trophy has not been decided but in principle the Apex Council has agreed to complete the tournament.
