Cricket South Africa president Chris Nenzani has said the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s tardiness in terms of confirming the dates for their summer tour is putting CSA under pressure from a logistical perspective.
With the T20 Global League South Africa launched on Wednesday and the final set to take place on December 16‚ that leaves a 10-day window between the final and the slated first day of the annual Boxing Day test that will now herald the start of South Africa’s test season.
Cricket Australia have already confirmed their dates for their four-test series in March and April next year.
The BCCI has been going through administrative upheaval to the point where there has been an administrative panel appointed by the Indian Supreme Court to run the richest cricket organisation in the world.
“I know there won’t be problem in terms of confirming the dates but it may not leave us with enough time to do the work we need to do. It must be remembered that it’s a big series and there is lot we need to do in terms of leveraging around the series and informing our people. I hope that will be confirmed soon‚” Nenzani said.
“The scheduling doesn’t impact on the series because the time we will be having the tournament is when we normally hold our T20 series and for the next subsistence of the current Future Tours Programme agreement‚ we are not committed to tours at that time of the year.”
Nenzani also hopes there will be Indian player representation at the tournament even though the BCCI forbids its players from taking part in outside competitions.
South Africa’s favourable time zone could also work in its favour‚ with the example being the 2009 IPL which was well received in India.
Also‚ the massive franchise interest the South African tournament has sparked in India could lead to a change of this stringent policy.
“The team owners don’t control the BCCI and if those players would be available for the tournament‚ that would be very good.
“We’ve been saying to them‚ though‚ that even if they can’t give us their frontline players‚ it would be nice if they give us players who are in the twilight of their career because that would have drawcards for the fans‚” Nenzani said.
- TMG Digital/TMG Sport
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