NEW DELHI: The BCCI has not made “any commitment” to tour South Africa in August and there have only been discussions about such a possibility, Board treasurer Arun Dhumal said on Friday, denying Cricket South Africa’s claims of a confirmation.
CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith and chief executive Jacques Faul on Thursday said that India has agreed to tour the rainbow nation for three T20 Internationals in August, signalling resumption of cricket in the post COVID-19 world. But Dhumal disagreed.
“When South Africa’s tour of India got cancelled due to coronavirus, we had discussions that if there is a possibility, we will make an effort to tour South Africa. But at no point have we made any commitment to Cricket South Africa about touring in August,” Dhumal told PTI in an exclusive interaction.
The senior BCCI office-bearer then said that unless the government clears international travel, BCCI won’t be in a position to make a commitment to any country.
“Right now, we can’t even commit that we can tour Sri Lanka in July followed by (short T20 series) in Zimbabwe. Both these tours are part of the FTP programme and we are still not sure what the situation will be in two months, so how can we commit to a South Africa tour?” Dhumal asked.
On a different note, when asked about Graeme Smith’s support to Sourav Ganguly’s candidature for the ICC chairmanship, Dhumal said it would be good for global cricket if an Indian is at the helm.
“There has been no formal discussion in BCCI about ICC chairmanship. Graeme Smith obviously spoke in his personal capacity which is not CSA’s stand,” he said.
CSA president Chris Nenzani refused to endorse Smith’s support for Ganguly in a statement issued on Friday.
–PTI

Press Trust of India