Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa's anti-apartheid icon who won the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting racial discrimination in the country, died on Sunday. He was 90.
South Africa remains one of the very few places where India have not won a Test series, and the Virat Kohli-led side is determined to end the wait this time around.
India have enjoyed recent success in Australia and England, but South Africa remains a mighty challenge for the top ranked Test side
South Africa have often relied on fast bowlers on spicy home wickets to get them to victory, but are also well aware that India have developed an excellent pace attack that has brought them overseas success in the last few years.
'South Africa remains an unconquered bastion. Remember, the Proteas are no pushovers in their own backyard, but we have got the firepower and the arsenal to match that.'
The BCCI and Cricket South Africa have mutually agreed that the upcoming Test and ODI series between the two teams will continue even if there is an isolated case of COVID-19 among players or support staff and close contacts will not be forced into isolation, CSA's medical officer Shuaib Manjra said.
BCCI tweets "All buckled up South Africa bound".
De Kock last played for South Africa at the Twenty20 World Cup, where he opted to sit out their second group game following a board order to take a knee in support of the "Black Lives Matter" movement.
A 35-year-old man with travel history to Zimbabwe and South Africa has tested positive for Omicron, becoming the second patient of the new COVID-19 variant in Delhi, sources said on Saturday.
A woman contact of an Omicron case in Rajasthan has been found COVID-19 positive in Delhi and is being shifted to the Lok Nayak Hospital, officials said on Friday.
The South African Health Products Authority (SAHPRA) on Wednesday approved the use of Pfizer's Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine after BioNTech and Pfizer announced that two doses of their vaccine may not be enough to protect against the Omicron variant.
Ajinkya Rahane has been retained in India's Test squad, to be led by Virat Kohli, for the South Africa series later this month.
The careers of senior pros Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma are on the line when the selectors pick the Indian Test squad for the coming tour of South Africa.
Fast bowler Duanne Olivier has been recalled for South Africa's home Test series against India, a reward for excellent domestic form from a player who shot to prominence four years ago before taking up a Kolpak contract.
South Africa confirm updated India itinerary.
'This means that there is a higher likelihood of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 to be reinfected with the Omicron variant'
The patient is currently admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital and has mild symptoms, hospital officials said.
Most of those who tested positive either recently arrived from African countries or were in contact with such people.
Virat Kohli's position as India's ODI captain, his Test deputy Ajinkya Rahane's future as vice-captain in the longest format along with 100-Test man Ishant Sharma's place will be up for discussion when the national selectors pick the jumbo squad for the tour of South Africa later this week.
The fate of India's upcoming tour of South Africa amid the trepidation triggered by new COVID-19 variant Omicron will be addressed when the Board of Control for Cricket in India holds its 90th Annual General Meeting in Kolkata on Saturday.
Pfizer's chief executive Dr Albert Bourla told the BBC that he is of the view that annual vaccinations would be needed to maintain a "very high level of protection" against the deadly disease that has claimed over five million lives across the world.
Kohli was addressing the media on the eve of the second and final Test against New Zealand in Mumbai from Friday.
The former India captain also backed out-of-favour all-rounder Hardik Pandya to regain his place in the side after returning to full fitness.
BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal on Tuesday said India's tour of South Africa remains on schedule provided the situation doesn't aggravate in the rainbow nation after a new COVID-19 variant was detected there.
South Africa's foreign ministry has said that a 'full bio-secure environment' will be created for the Indian cricket team when it lands in Johannesburg for a highly-anticipated series next month
No case of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected in India yet, a senior government official said on Monday.
South Africa will remain on the lowest 'level 1' of its five-level lockdown strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic despite the global panic around the detection of the Omicron variant in the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced .
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in a statement urged world leaders not to implement 'knee-jerk' policy decisions in response to the detection of the Omicron variant.
Former South Africa batting all-rounder Farhan Behardien is hoping that the new COVID-19 variant, which is causing alarm here, will not jeopardise India's tour of the country next month as young cricketers of his nation need the series "more than ever".
Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur said the Board of Control for Cricket in India should consult the government before sending the cricket team to South Africa, where a new COVID-19 variant is causing havoc.
The move came soon after Belgium confirmed a case of the B.1.1.529 variant in someone who had travelled back from Egypt earlier this month, with the European Union (EU) member states agreeing to a snap travel ban on seven African nations.
The new COVID-19 variant, which threatens to wreak havoc in South Africa, has led to considerable concerns about India's tour of the Rainbow Nation next month and there could be changes in the quarantine rules for players in the coming days.
The WHO has countries to enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts to better understand circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, submit complete genome sequences and associated metadata to a publicly available database.
Two more failures in two home games could effectively mean end of the road for Ajinkya Rahane, who is leading India in the first Test in Kanpur, starting on Thursday.
The former India captain was speaking at a felicitation function organised for CSK for winning the 2021 edition of IPL.
India have emerged winner in all five matches against Pakistan in T20 World Cups, starting from the inaugural World T20 in 2007.
Images and summary of all the World Cup 2022 qualifiers played across continents on Tuesday.
India vice-captain Rohit Sharma asserted that the team will do everything it can to repeat history by winning the T20 World Cup, beginning October 17.
India will tour South Africa for an all-format series in December-January, Cricket South Africa (CSA) said on Thursday. According to the itinerary announced by CSA, India is set to play three Test matches, as many ODIs and four T20Is during the tour.
Rajneesh Gupta lists all the important numbers from Day 5 of the 4th Test at the Oval.
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