Sourav Ganguly wins over Graeme Smith, ex-RSA captain lashes out at Australia's attitude

Cricket South Africa's director of cricket, Graeme Smith has revealed that they are set to play against India a number of times in the next cycle of bilateral series as multiple exchanges between the two cricketing boards are on the verge of being approved. Smith also went on to laud BCCI President Sourav Ganguly for being immensely supportive during these demanding times.

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Graeme Smith lauds Sourav Ganguly led BCCI, slams Cricket Australia for not standing up in times of difficulties

While commentating during the domestic T20 cup, Smith said that he and Sourav Ganguly go a long way back and revealed that they've had a number of conversations about the upcoming tours. The former South Africa captain further said that India have been very supportive of them and he was hopeful that in the next cycle, the Proteas will have a number of tours against India that are actually pretty close to being finalised.

Smith also applauded ECB and its CEO Tom Harrison saying that they have been brilliant as well. Further showering praise on the English board, Smith stated that the handling of the England situation when they left South Africa in December without playing three ODIs on their white-ball tour was good. He further said that the ODI series has already been rescheduled and there has been a joint resolution and understanding of that.

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On the contrary, Smith lashed out at Cricket Australia saying that they have been the one that has stood out in terms of the difficulties. According to the southpaw, the two nations have never found the same sense of working together as they did with the BCCI and the ECB. Smith reckoned that CSA has got to ask some hard questions of Cricket Australia and challenge them as well. as it's important for world cricket.

CSA has lodged a formal complaint with the ICC asking the apex cricketing board's dispute resolution committee to consider whether the Australia vs South Africa cancelled series constituted unacceptable non-compliance of the FTP and the World Test Championship terms.

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Smith reckoned that each country is facing different challenges and it's paramount that the members get together and support each other and try and find ways to get as much done as they can. However, he opined that Australia have been a disappointment so far as everyone they have worked with has had that mindset and understood the situation but the Aussies haven't, which has let them down.

Meanwhile, South Africa and India were set to compete in a three-match ODI series in March 2020, however, due to the worsening COVID-19 situation in the country, the series was called off after the first ODI. They are now scheduled to host India for three Tests in the summer of  2021-22. Smith also said that the South African team is going to be very busy post IPL 2021 to build-up to the T20 World Cup and identify the right squad. Besides India, South Africa are likely to our West Indies and Sri Lanka ahead of the T20 World Cup 2021.

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