Video: Cricket South Africa promo for the Freedom series

South African team acknowledges the crowd before playing their 1st match since returning to international cricket

Cricket South Africa, the administrative body of the sport in the country, has released the official promo for the upcoming Freedom series against India. The video is a tribute to the rich history between the two nations which goes beyond the boundaries of cricket.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the CSA had jointly announced in August that all future bilateral series between India and South Africa, including the Proteas’ upcoming tour to India, will be called the Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela series. It was also confirmed that the Test series between the nations will be fought for the ‘Freedom Trophy.’

The decision on this title was made on the basis on the similar history shared by India and South Africa in their fight for independence. While Gandhiji’s non-violence movement was instrumental in giving India independence from the British rule, Mandela’s similar resistance against the white regime in South Africa enabled the African nation to end the apartheid rule.

The video begins off with the tribute to these two immense personalities before shifting the focus on the three-match ODI-series between the two nations in November 1991 with which South Africa made their return to international cricket after being banned from the sport for more than twenty years due to the racial discrimination prevalent in the country.

It was South Africa’s gesture of repayment as it was India who played a major role in helping them get back to international cricket with then BCCI secretary, Jagmohan Dalmiya, who recently passed away, using his influence in the ICC to persuade the major cricket nations to welcome South Africa into its fold.

The promo then changes the focus to some of the best cricket moments in the various encounters between the two nations over the years, including Allan Donald’s 12-wicket match haul in the Port Elizabeth Test in 1992 and the first 200 in ODI history scored by Sachin Tendulkar in 2010. In between are snippets of the game being played and enjoyed by the millions of cricket crazy fans in the two nations.