Indian squad to go under rigorous test ahead of South Africa series: Reports

India are all set to host South Africa for a five-match T20 series right after the ongoing Indian T20 League 2022. The squad of both teams have been announced. KL Rahul will lead the Indian team in the absence of Rohit Sharma. As per the reports, the 18-member Indian team will have to go under a rigorous fitness test before the start of the series.

The Indian players are putting in all their efforts in the Indian T20 League 2022, but the BCCI wants them to prove their fitness. The players will participate in the test on the 5th of June at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. NCA director VVS Laxman will supervise all the proceedings.

"All players for South Africa series will have to assemble for a fitness camp at NCA. It’s important as many of them are carrying niggles. Harshal still has stitches and we want to make sure everything is fine," a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.

The Indian squad will depart from Bangalore on June 7th for Delhi, where the opening match of the series will be played on June 9th. The next four matches will be played in Cuttack (12th June), Vizag (14th June), Rajkot (17th June), and Bangalore (19th June).

Meanwhile, the reports of Rahul Dravid missing the series against South Africa had earlier emerged. It was said that VVS Laxman will take charge of the T20 series, while Dravid will travel with the red-ball team to England. It has now been understood that Dravid will be a part of the T20 series. However, it is uncertain if he will be available for the while five-match T20I series.

"Rahul wants to be available for the South Africa series. The idea was that he would be travelling with the England squad with Laxman taking charge of the South Africa series. But Rahul wants to oversee everything before flying out to England. We still have a few days and the itinerary should be clear in the next few days," the BCCI official said.