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 IPL, which was perhaps the biggest gamble of his life, turned out to be the biggest success story ever, making Lalit Modi a cult in the echelons of global sport.
Former South Africa skipper Bacher Ali believes that young black players cannot make it to the country's cricket if they continue to stay in the township culture.
Siddle broke the news to his team mates at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday after being released from the squad for the third and final Test against New Zealand in Sydney.
Australia's David Warner was taken to hospital for scans on a groin strain on Sunday, prompting a nervous wait for the hosts ahead of the start of the Test series against India in Adelaide on December 17.
Images from the third One-Day International between South Africa and India, in Cape Town, on Sunday.
Virat Kohli's tourists are the second ranked ODI side in the world and will be looking to get into their groove in the three 50-over and three Twenty20 matches that precede the four-match Test series around the new year.
The former Australia captain declined to name the players involved but reiterated that he had told them, "I don't want to know about it", and then walked away.
South Africa had been to five previous World Cup semi-finals across all formats without success, but now stand on the brink of a career-defining moment for what is largely a young group of players.
India needed 14 runs from the last over and Pandya delivered with sixes off the second and fourth deliveries
Travis Head, D' Arcy Short and Chris Lynn have been dropped, while the pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been rested.
While ODI captain Aaron Finch said the team backed Justin Langer "100%", reports of players being put off by the coach's "grumpy" temperament have continued to surface.
Former skipper Mark Taylor has backed the appointment of Steve Smith as Australia's vice-captain more than three years after he was stripped of the captaincy for his involvement in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal.
The incident, which Australian captain Steve Smith said involved senior players hatching a plan to tamper with the ball during a game against rival South Africa, also threatens to upset current negotiations over broadcast rights.
In case of Umesh, he bowls a fuller length, gets that lethal outswing going his way at 140 clicks but the question is, if India can afford to play a bowler, who has a propensity to bowl too many boundary balls.
'We stuck to our guns and delivered skill under pressure and managed to keep ahead in the game'
England impressively chased down an imposing target to beat South Africa by nine wickets
Fulfilling the quota requirements while fielding a competitive team has long been a sensitive issue but after a poor 2019, returning to winning ways looks to be the immediate priority of the four selectors, two of whom are black.
Ahead of their departure, the skipper shared a picture on Twitter and captioned it as: "Next stop, New Zealand."
'The guys were really clinical, and I think the way Dean led with the bat was phenomenal. He made sure he stayed in to a built partnerships with the other batters around him.'
South Africa head coach Mark Boucher has ranked the remarkable, come-from-behind 2-1 series triumph over world No. 1 India as one of the best in the Rainbow Nation's Test cricket history.
Cricket Australia (CA) said on Sunday they will conduct an investigation into a ball-tampering scandal during the third Test against South Africa that has prompted calls for captain Steve Smith to step down.
Some 17 months on, with his rehabilitation after a one-year ball-tampering ban apparently completed, the 32-year-old will return to the Test arena at Edgbaston on Thursday at the start of his sixth Ashes series.
Record first win since 'sandpaper gate'
Ajinkya Rahane's India have a mountain to climb, even if a draw would be enough to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy two years after their breakthrough 2-1 win in the 2018/19 series in Australia.
It was a net session that even Sachin Tendulkar would have only dreamt of when he started playing cricket.
The Indian team on Sunday began training for the decisive third and final Test against South Africa here, hoping to recover from the defeat in Johannesburg and claim its maiden series win in the Rainbow Nation.
IMAGES from the Women's T20 World Cup first semi-final played between India and Australia in Cape Town on Thursday.
India's swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar on Tuesday jumped eight places to a career-best 22 following his impressive show in a lost cause in the first Test against South Africa but Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara slipped in the ICC ranking ladder.
The incident has been met with astonishment in Australia, with the protagonists -- Smith, his vice captain David Warner and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft -- lambasted in the media under headlines almost universally trumpeting the word "Shame".
Australia, who host the T20 World Cup from October 18 to November 15, had won eight games in a row before losing to South Africa by 12 runs in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
Du Plessis revealed on Wednesday that all-rounder Chris Morris and seamer Duanne Olivier had been released from the expanded 17-man squad, but that the home side were still mulling over two positions.
India will embark on a bid to end 70 long years of fruitless attempts to win a Test series in Australia from a similar position of strength, 2-1 up with one to play after a crushing victory in Melbourne.
Coach Mark Boucher appears to have brought some steel back to the South African squad as they subdued an England side battling with illness and which has recently struggled to pick up wins on the road.
Opener David Warner thumped a maiden Twenty20 international century as Australia kicked off their home summer with a ruthless 134-run thrashing of Sri Lanka, at Adelaide Oval, on Sunday.
After electing to bat, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 225, three balls short of their 50 overs, for another below-par score in a series where they have found no answer to South Africa's rampant pace and spin attack.
Test cricket on Sunday said farewell and thanks to Steve Bucknor, the most experienced umpire to date in the longest form of the game. The 62-year-old Jamaican umpired his final Test match at Newlands in Cape Town between South Africa and Australia, his 128th match in the middle. Bucknor has been umpiring at international level since 1989 when he took charge of the One-Day International (ODI) between the West Indies and India at the Antigua Recreation Ground on March 18.
Tiny Temba Bavuma scored his maiden Test century for South Africa on Tuesday and suggested English sledging helped him reaching the landmark.
Images from Day 4 of the third Test between South Africa and India, in Cape Town, on Friday.
South Africa will hope the new year brings about a change in luck as they seek to put behind them a disappointing 2015 and get back to winning ways against England in the second Test at Newlands starting on Saturday.
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