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First Test Between India South Africa To Be Played Behind Closed Doors Reports

First Test between India & South Africa to be played behind closed doors: Reports

The first Test between India and South Africa might be played behind closed doors. With the Omicron variant starting to make its presence felt all over the world, the speculation was fuelled by the Wanderers stadium who tweeted that the venue has not sold any tickets yet for the first game.

"Please note, no announcement has been made regarding ticket sales for the upcoming Test match at the #ImperialWanderers Stadium between South Africa and India," the official Twitter account of the stadium said.

"At this point, it isn't clear if fans will be allowed. We will make further announcements in due course."

The first match is slated to begin on December 26 in Centurion. South Africa has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases in the past few weeks. In fact, the CSA on Sunday also postponed the domestic fixture as a precautionary measure.

The Indian team is touring South Africa for three Tests and three ODIs. The ODI series will commence on January 19, 2022 in Paarl.

The visitors will be without the services of the new Test vice captain Rohit Sharma for the Test series as he was ruled out of the fixtures due to a hamstring injury. Batsman KL Rahul was named Virat’s deputy for the series in place of Rohit. The Indian team has started with the preparations.

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India tour of South Africa 2021-22

Super Smash 2021: Northern Brave complete easy win after bowlers rip apart Auckland

Northern Brave rode on a spectacular bowling performance from the unit to thump Auckland on Monday, 20 December. Batting first, Auckland had a dismal start to the proceedings as they lost early wickets and were left tottering at 61/9. It was Lockie Ferguson and Ben Lister who chipped in with a partnership of 31 runs helping Auckland reach 92 before getting bundled. Anurag Verma and Frederick Walker picked up three wickets each for the side while Ish Sodhi scalped two of them. Sodhi's figures were exceptional considering the help seamers got in the game. At the end of the innings, he registered 4-0-5-2. With no scoreboard pressure whatsoever, Northern Brave openers Katene Clarke and Tim Seifert started off the chase well as the two put up 65 for the first wicket before Clarke departed for 28 off 32. Brave then lost three more wickets but that didn’t really cause much of a concern as the side went over the line by 6 wickets in just over 15 overs. Seifert top-scored for his team with an unbeaten 42-ball 38. Sean Solia returned with figures of 2/16 in 3 overs for his team. The Northern Brave now have 10 points from 4 games while Auckland are tottering at the bottom of the points table, still searching for a win. Brave will now play Canterbury in Mount Maunganui on Thursday while Auckland will be up against Wellington in Wellington on Friday.

IPL mega auction pushed to 2022 due to uncertainty over CVC Sports: Report

The mega auction to be held before the next edition of the Indian Premier League has been delayed to the first week of February 2022 due to uncertainty around the participation of CVC Sports in the tournament, Cricket.com reported. The event will take place over two days either in Hyderabad or Bangalore, the report said further. The report suggested that the council had also extended the draft process for the new franchises—Lucknow and Ahmedabad bid successfully by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group and CVC Sports. CVC Sports bid Rs 5625 crore for the Ahmedabad-based franchises but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet to issue a statement of intent to the British private equity firm. There were a lot of media reports highlighting the other businesses of CVC sports and the BCCI is yet to make public their stance on the matter. Notably, the 15th edition of the IPL is set to return in a 10-team tournament and is likely to take place from the first week of April 2022. There have been various developments for the Lucknow-based franchise as they have roped in former Zimbabwe batsmen and one of the most venerable coaches of the world Andy Flower as their head coach. Along with him, they have also appointed two-time IPL winning captain, Gautam Gambhir as their mentor.

The Ashes | Day-Night Test, Day 5: Lyon quashes any hope of England's revival with Ben Stokes wicket

Any hopes of an England survival was all but dashed with the exit of their “superhero” Ben Stokes in the first session of the final day of the Day-Night Test in Adelaide. He was trapped LBW by the off-spinner Nathan Lyon and England slipped to be left with just four wickets to save the game and go to Melbourne just 0-1 down. Odds were already stacked against the tourists since Joe Root was dismissed on what turned out to be the last ball of the fourth day bowled by Mitchell Starc but England fans could have hoped for another miraculous escape by Ben Stokes. Before his dismissal, Ollie Pope failed once again and fell victim to Starc’s over the angle. England were set a mammoth target as Australia managed to extend their lead of 273 runs to 468 runs and regular strikes with the new ball helped the hosts have momentum in their favour right from the start.

CSA postpones domestic fixtures due to Covid-19 fear ahead of India series

Cricket South Africa on Sunday said that it has postponed the remaining round of CSA four-day franchise series as a precautionary measure over Covid-19 fears. "The decision to defer the fifth round of matches, which were scheduled to take place between December 16-19 (Division Two) and December 19-22 (Division One), was taken as a safeguarding measure in light of the competition being held outside of a bio-secure environment and amid the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic," CSA said in a statement. The fixtures which have been postponed will be rescheduled. The announcement has come a week before the commencement of the Test series between India and South Africa. The Indian team is touring South Africa for three Tests and as many ODIs. The first Test is slated to begin on December 26 in Centurion while the ODI series is scheduled to start on January 19, 2022 in Paarl. The selectors had announced some changes in the leadership group with Rohit Sharma also taking up the ODI captaincy and was named the vice captain of the Test side. But unfortunately, the right-handed batsman will be missing the Test series with a hamstring injury and KL Rahul will be Virat Kohli’s deputy.