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Sri Lanka series to continue even as stringent lockdown announced in South Africa

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South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa announced stringent lockdown measures to curtail the fast rate of spread of COVID-19 in the country. However, it wouldn’t affect the ongoing Test series between South Africa and Sri Lanka as sports have been exempted from the closure list. 

A govt order read that "Sport, arts and culture activities, including both professional and non-professional matches, by recognized sporting bodies are allowed." However, there is a precondition to it that "only journalists, radio, television crew, security personnel, emergency medical services, and the necessary employees employed by the owners of the venue ... are allowed at the venue of the ... match", and that "only the required number of players, match officials, support staff and medical crew required for the sports match, are allowed at the venue".

Reacting to the new lockdown measures which see the ban of public gathering in hotspot areas, the interim board of Cricket South Africa (CSA) assured, "the new restrictions will not impact the ... match currently underway at ... Centurion". The second Test at Wanderers on January 3 would go ahead as planned as well. 

It has been a very dangerous wave of COVID-19 that is going on in South Africa. The country had recorded 14,796 cases of COVID-19 on Christmas Day alone. In total, the one million cases mark has been breached by the nation. 

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Inside Out | Shubman Gill announces his arrival in Tests. But the real test begins now

When Ajinkya Rahane-led team management would have decided to hand Shubman Gill his Test debut at the MCG, it must have been with the expectations of some substance, and not only promises, because his predecessor at the top of the order—Prithvi Shaw had that in abundance. The expectation of substance from Gill has not come purely on the basis of his run-scoring alone, but the team management including Rahane had seen him for close quarters while he was batting in the two tour games leading up to the first Test at Adelaide. This team under Virat Kohli is highly competitive and it seems there are more than one contenders for each spot in the XI, and hence the players sitting in the wings have two initial tasks at their hands while they think of playing on the big stage. First, to break into the playing XI and then after succeeding in that, paying off the faith immediately as others are knocking the door very hard which would be opened in case of failure to convert promises into substance. It can be widely argued that the latter puts a lot of pressure on young players but they have no options but to live with the fact that in Virat Kohli’s team, there are no rooms for players not delivering on their promises with limited opportunities in the team and that not all players get an equal amount of chances to prove their worth. Gill got the opportunity to fulfil the first task on the very first day of his Test debut after Indian bowling attack pulled off a heroic bowling efforts to bundle Australia below 200 runs, but Indian openers were to bat a handful of covers from the relentless pace trio of Australia in the phase of the day, where they had nothing to gain, but all to lose. Gill was on debut, and he could see the challenges he had before him on the very first day of his batting and how different the situation was than the other situation he might has faced playing for India A and Punjab in the Ranji Trophy. He also saw Starc delivering a fiery over where he made his partner Agarwal look like an amateur who could pick neither the line of the ball, and neither the movement in the air and off the pitch. He saw his partner getting into a tangle and exposed against Starc and may well have visualised the baptism of fire that was about to begin for the Punjabi lad. Cummins did not disappoint him and tested all his skills outside the off stump. He could leave alone the balls which he could see outside the line of his off stump, but Cummins was skilful enough to move the ball away from the line of the off-stump to keep Gill feeling for the ball. Openers need the rub of the green to go their way in order to survive those periods of the game, and he actually got one when Marnus Labuschagne dropped him at the second slip, handing him another life and opening another window where Gill could see his batting blossoming. Gill never looked back at that false shot and when Starc tested his backfoot game on the very next ball, he was up to the task to show that all the hype built around him and his technique was quite justified. Gill grew in confidence and made sure Starc was served a lesson that he is not afraid of backing himself to play according to his strengths, however great the bowling attack he was facing and that he was not carrying any baggage of the dominance he has had on his opening partner Mayank Agarwal and predecessor Prithvi Shaw. When Gill was inducted for the first time in the team, his technique and flow of batting had impressed none other than Virat Kohli, who had famously recalled not having even 10 per cent of the flair at the age of Gill. The statement showed the value Gill was getting in the leadership group of the Indian team, and as stated earlier, it was Gill’s moment of reckoning in the late phase of the first day at the MCG. He was tested severely on the morning of the second day and ultimately was defeated by Cummins, but not in the battle of technical deficiency as that of his predecessor Shaw, but in the game of nerves and patience. On the fourth day of the Test, he was confronted with another similar challenge, as his senior batting partners Agarwal and Pujara were eliminated quickly by Starc and Cummins. Starc employed his tricks on bringing the balls back into Agarwal and finally sucked him into playing a ball he should have left. Gill was watching all of that happen from the other end, and was readying himself to face Starc. Starc tried similar tactics against him, but Gill was right on the top of the ball and the position he was getting just before the release of the ball while shaping up to face Starc emphasized why he is rated so highly by the team management. Ultimately, the second bout of the battle of nerves was won by Gill, and when Hazlewood came into the attack on the historic score of 36, Gill was rich on confidence, and when he dismissed a short ball of Hazlewood in front of the square, it was a shot to announce his arrival on the big state. Gill has successfully managed to achieve the first challenge of getting into the team and showing he belongs to this level, but he would be realistic to know that the real test of both his technique and temperament will begin now. A batsman of his pedigree always has to deal with the disadvantage of being too good to be ignored. He will be under perpetual scrutiny of two types throughout his career. One, of intensive scrutiny by opposition teams when in a rich vein of form, and another of worrying scrutiny while struggling from lack of form. He would do well to look at the career of someone like his captain in the 2018 U-19 World Cup—Prithvi Shaw whom he has replaced in the team and Mayank Agarwal who is on the cusp of exclusion even after becoming the leading run-scorer of Indian in the last two Test series. Or else, he can also look at this tour as a series that has defined players in different eras and players such as Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, VVS Laxman, who have brought their A-game against Australia in their backyard and never looked back again. There is no prize for guessing what Gill would be looking forward to achieving from this series, but he will have to make sure to be relentless with his technique and mental ability just like Starc and Cummins were when he stepped on to the MCG pitch with the bat in hand.