The Indian Test squad under Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid landed in South Africa on Thursday evening for their upcoming 3-match series in Centurion, starting December 26. The players had departed for the rainbow nation on a private plane from Mumbai this morning.

The 18 players and support staff will quarantine in their hotel rooms for a few days now before starting their preparations at the SuperSport Park.

The tourists will be bidding to win their maiden Test series in South Africa when the two teams face off from Boxing Day. The three Tests will be played at Centurion, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

India will miss their newly-appointed vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who was ruled out of the Tests due to a hamstring injury. India will also be without their two premier left-arm spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel due to injuries.

“Touchdown South Africa,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India posted on social media.

Team India’s departure comes a day after Virat Kohli addressed the media in an explosive press conference, rubbishing rumours of a rift with Rohit Sharma. Kohli also highlighted the lack of communication between him and the BCCI in the lead up to his removal as ODI captain.

However, a BCCI source speaking to India Today dismissed Virat Kohli’s claims, saying he was asked in September to reconsider his decision to quit T20I captaincy.

Kohli also contradicted board president Sourav Ganguly’s claim that the former skipper spoke to him in person and urged him not to give up T20I captaincy.

The 33-year-old, who stepped down as T20I captain after the T20 World Cup in the UAE, was sacked as ODI captain on the day the Test squad for the South Africa tour was announced.