Gautam Gambhir, Shubman Gill's big '2027 World Cup' request, BCCI in talks with South Africa: Report

While the 2027 Cricket World Cup is still more than a year away, preparations and planning for the tournament has been underway for quite some time already. The Indian team management is seemingly leaving no stone unturned in order to ensure that the squad arrives at the World Cup in the best shape. As per reports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India cricket team">India cricket team">India cricket team">India cricket team">India (BCCI) has recently engaged in talks with Cricket South Africa (CSA) to organise a crucial ODI series between India and South Africa ahead of the global event.

With the 2027 World Cup being primarily held in South Africa, the BCCI is in talks with CSA for an ODI series in South Africa leading up to the tournament, as per a report.

The report further states that the BCCI has held such talks after a specific request from the Indian team management, which is currently led by skipper Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir.

The ongoing talks are for an ODI series between India and South Africa that will contain four to six matches.

The BCCI is yet to finalise India's cricket tours following IPL 2027, and as such, there is plenty of space in the Future Tours Programme to organise a series against South Africa if need be.

Big focus on players' fitness

Another aspect of India's preparation for the 2027 World Cup is to ensure that all players arrive at the tournament in the best condition, according to the report. As a result, the team's strength and conditioning coach, Adrian Le Roux, has already chalked out a plan regarding fitness programmes for the players.

India captain Shubman Gill was also asked to join the BCCI review meeting on Thursday so that he could provide the players' perspective to the fitness programme plan.

The BCCI reportedly wants all stakeholders on the same page and remove any communication gap when it comes to the fitness of the players. The fitness of the likes of pacer Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya are in key focus.