SA tour: Will anyone care for cricket?

MUMBAI: BCCI president N Srinivasan and his South African counterpart Chris Nenzani are scheduled to meet today to discuss the future and possibility of India's tour of South Africa later this year. How they iron out issues between them, especially those pertaining to the Indian board's dislike of Cricket South Africa CEO Haroon Lorgat, will eventually decide the next course of action.
India's initial three-Test and five-ODI tour of South Africa was cut down to just two Tests and three ODOs before the whole series ran into trouble. Going against the grain of what is a legally binding agreement — ICC's Future Tours Program (FTP) — BCCI invited West Indies for a two-Test and five-ODI series that now has become Sachin Tendulkar's farewell series.
The tour of South Africa had been billed as the year's marquee contest and would've remained one if not for Lorgat — former chief executive of the ICC who famously doesn't get along with the bigwigs of Indian cricket administration — occupying the CSA chair. Because of the bickering, the series now faces the threat of being truncated to just two Tests, that is of course if the talks are successful. Nenzani is scheduled to meet Srinivasan at the BCCI office on Saturday with a no-holds barred request to let the tour continue. For CSA, a lot is at stake given the revenue potential that an India tour promises
But there is more to this series just than the business and politics of cricket alone. It is also about scores of cricket lovers who have looked forward to India taking on South Africa on the kind of tracks and conditions that Cape Town and Durban have on offer. It is unlikely that Srinivasan and Nenzani may address this issue as a priority when they meet but they will do better to understand that other than tours of England and Australia — considering Pakistan is not a possibility at present — the tour of South Africa remains the only other overseas contest fans look forward to.
There's been an overdose of cricket with Sri Lanka while tours of West Indies and New Zealand are time-constrained. A lot is at stake here for the ordinary cricket fan and Srinivasan's tussle with Lorgat is far less important than the prospect of watching Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli against Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn.