India v SA ODI series to be rescheduled after coronavirus outbreak

India skipper Virat Kohli arrives wearing a protective mask in Lucknow yesterday. Pic/PTI

The two remaining ODIs between India and South Africa in Lucknow and Kolkata were on Friday called off owing to the COVID-19 threat as the country's sports calendar continued to go haywire because of the global pandemic. "With the IPL being postponed, it only made sense that at this point of time, this series is also called off. The country is facing a serious pandemic," a top BCCI official told PTI. The first ODI between the two sides in Dharamsala was washed out. Both the sides had reached Lucknow on Friday.

"The South African team will come to Delhi and leave by taking at the earliest available flight," he added. The matches were earlier planned to be held behind closed doors due to the government directive, which asked for sporting events to be shut for fans in view of the pandemic. The IPL was on Friday pushed to April 15 from its scheduled March 29 start.

India has recorded more than 80 positive cases so far with the global infected count standing at over 100,000. The death toll because of the virus has gone beyond 5,000 internationally.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever