BCCI selection panel set to announce squad for South Africa tour, Virat Kohli's fate as ODI captain to be decided

India will begin their all-format tour to South Africa starting from December 17. The Board of Control for Cricket for India (BCCI) will soon announce squads for the tour comprising three Tests, three ODIs, and four T20Is. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said that as of now the tour remains to be played on schedule following the Omicron threat.

However, what has managed to grab eyeballs is Virat Kohli's status as the ODI captain. His leadership came under scrutiny after India didn’t qualify for the semis of the 20-20 World Cup. Kohli, who announced his decision to step from the T20I format, had a forgettable tournament. Reports emerged that Kohli will also have to leave the ODI captaincy.

The Chetan Sharma-led selection will soon announce squads for the South Africa tour. The selectors were initially set to pick the squads after the conclusion of the India-New Zealand Kanpur Test. But they had to delay the announcement as BCCI is still awaiting government clearance for the tour. However, as per reports, the squads will now be announced whether the tour goes as per plan or not.

“The Indian squad will be announced in the next few days’ time. We will have everything ready from our end and then wait for the government’s nod. If the government tell us to abort the trip, then we would, but we need to keep the squad selected and ready,” a senior BCCI official was quoted as saying in The Times of India on Wednesday, December 1.

Earlier, the South African foreign ministry had assured to provide India with a fully secure bio-secure environment. Now, there is also a possibility of the Test matches being curtailed due to the Omicron virus.

"We will know in a few days if the series would become a two-Test affair rather than three but there have been some back-and-forth discussions,” a local commentator told on air on YouTube during India A’s match against South Africa A in Bloemfontein.