Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) are in talks to finalise details of a proposed Mandela-Gandhi series - a four-Test series which will be played in both countries. CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat came up with this announcement during the launch of new kits for the South African cricket team.

"India has really warmed up to the idea of making a sort of an icon series between South Africa and India. So we will play four Tests in India and they will come back in 2018 and will play the equivalent. We want to style it as the Mandela-Gandhi series. We are working on that now to develop the details of the icon series," Lorgat said

Lorgat appreciated the quality of international stars produced by South African cricket and said the Proteas players are in demand all around the world. "They are very sought after amongst all of the professional leagues, including the IPL. They are certainly capable of capturing the imagination of South Africa and the world."

Lorgat said CSA had focused on ODIs in the past eighteen months and would now turn their attention on preparation for the T20 WC challenge in India in March next year. The CSA chief executive also reinforced CSA's plans to develop cricket at lower levels to feed into the national side through its transformation plans.

"We have become a bit more aggressive in the transformation space and we make no apologies for that - it's the right thing to do, for two reasons. There is a moral obligation to get things right and equally, if we want to sustain ourselves as the number one Test team in the world, we must draw from a much wider pool," Lorgat said.

Meanwhile, the CSA board of directors, who met in Johannesburg, decided to extend the contract of chief coach, Russell Domingo and team manager, Dr Mohammed Moosajee till 30 April 2017. The board also gave the green signal to the appointment of Charl Langeveldt as South African bowling coach while CSA announced that Linda Zondi will take over as the new as convener of selectors.

"I wish to thank the previous selection panel for the important role played by them and welcome on board the new selection panel. Linda was part of the previous selection panel and I want to congratulate him on his progression to the convener role," the CSA chief executive said.

It is an important role and his past experience on the panel plus as the Dolphins selection convener and as the convener of the national U/19 selection panel will all stand him in good stead. He has established an outstanding record in identifying young talent as was seen with his contribution to the success of last year's ICC under/19 World Cup campaign. The panel's appointment takes effect immediately and will be for a two year-period," Lorgat added.