India's cricket tour of South Africa will go ahead this month with a revised schedule of three Test matches and three one-day internationals.

The series had been thrown into some doubt following the emergence of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in South Africa. India, who completed a 1-0 series win over New Zealand on Monday, will now arrive in the country a week later than originally scheduled and four planned T20 internationals have been dropped and will be rearranged.

 

The two sides will meet in the first Test in Pretoria on 26 December, with further Tests to follow in Johannesburg (3-7 January) and Cape Town (11-15 January). Two ODIs will be played in Paarl on 19 and 21 January, with the final one in Cape Town on 23 January.

The Test series will form part of the new cycle of the World Test Championship, while the ODIs will count towards the Super League, the qualification tournament for the 2023 Cricket World Cup. India are third in the World Test Championship table, with South Africa yet to play their first match.

Cricket South Africa's acting chief executive Pholetsi Moseki said: "I would like to thank both the leadership of Cricket South Africa, as well as the leadership of the BCCI for working so tirelessly to make this tour a reality. Even under the most uncertain times, the boards kept the light of hope alive and kept us anticipating that this tour will indeed take place."

decision at the annual general meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Saturday paved the way for the tour to go ahead with the revised game schedule.