The South African cricket team will tour Pakistan for the first time in 13 years in the months of January-February next year for a T20I and Test series, Cricket South Africa said in its release. The Proteas will play three T20Is and two Test matches from January 26.
South African team will arrive in the country on January 16 and will be placed in quarantine before they could begin training for the series. They will also play an intra-squad match to get ready for the first Test that will be played in Karachi from January 26, followed by the second Test from 4 February in Rawalpindi.
The Test series will be quickly followed by a three-match T20I series whose matches are scheduled to take place on February 11, 13, and 14 in Lahore.
Notably, South Africa will be only the fourth team in the world to have agreed to tour Pakistan after a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009, which led to international teams and their players showing hesitation and strong reluctance to visit the country.
South Africa had toured Pakistan last time under the captaincy of Graeme Smith. They had won the Test series 1-0 and the ODI series by a margin of 3-2. The Test series was an iconic one as it was legendary batsmen Inzamam-ul-Haq's farewell series. He appeared for the last time in international cricket in the final Test of the series and just missed out on breaking Javed Miandad’s record of leading run-scorer for Pakistan by just 3 runs.
13 years later, Graeme Smith is in a different role for the South African side as he is the Director of Cricket with CSA and has welcomed the confirmation of the tour. He lauded the ‘cricket-loving’ people of Pakistan while also thanking them for giving enormous support on the previous tours when he was there as a player and captain of the Proteas.
“It’s pleasing to see so many countries making a return to Pakistan – a proud, cricket-loving nation. Cricket South Africa is delighted to be counted among them. As someone who has toured the country on more than one occasion back in my playing days, I know how much passion the people of Pakistan have for the game as well as the love and support that the Proteas enjoy there as a team,” Graeme Smith said.
26-30 January – 1st Test, Karachi
04-08 February – 2nd Test, Rawalpindi
11 February – 1st T20I, Lahore
13 February – 2nd T20I, Lahore
14 February – 3rd T20I, Lahore
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