South Africa is hopeful of playing T20I series against India by August end

South Africa’s cricket association told that they are hopeful of playing a T20I series against India provided COVID-19 slows down.

South Africa is looking forward to hosting a T20I series with India in late August, provided that India’s situation by the Coronavirus improves significantly.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has already had to postpone a limited-overs series in Sri Lanka but has earmarked the visit by India to raise much-needed revenue.

CSA Director of cricket Graeme Smith says the body is in constant contact with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and there could be a decision soon.

“We have been talking to them and the commitment is there to get the three T20s done,” Smith said at a news conference on Thursday. There is an element of guesswork, no-one knows what things will be like at the end of August.”

“But we believe we are a socially-distanced sport and that we can play behind closed doors.” He further said. The Proteas were set to play a tour against West Indies before the pandemic enforced a lockdown in most of the countries.

Smith confirmed they are looking at all options to find a new schedule for the proposed series against West Indies, including playing at neutral venues or in South Africa.

“We are exploring all options. Sport has to think like a business now and not just an events company. We need to get together and work out how to get cricket up and running,” he said.

“We are trying to understand things like quarantine regulations. There are so many things up in the air, but the key is to be ready (for when play returns).”

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As of now, there is no clarity upon the rescheduling of IPL too, and the T20I world cup was also scheduled this year, and governing bodies are hopeful of things getting improved by then.