South Africa will do everything possible to make newlyweds Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma's trip to the Rainbow Nation a "special one", according to Cricket South Africa (CSA) acting CEO Thabang Moroe.
Anushka was seen accompanying Kohli when the Indian cricket team left from Mumbai to South Africa last week. It was announced after that the Bollywood actor would spend the New Year's eve with her partner in the African nation and return to the country to resume her acting commitments in the first week of January.
Moroe also made a tongue-in-cheek remark about "world-class arrangements" made for Kohli, who is heading into the New Year on the back of a productive year in 2017 across all formats at home.
"I would like to believe that we are treating them (Kohli and Anushka) with the same special care that we give to all our visitors. As South Africans, we are very well known for our friendliness and hospitality and I'm pretty confident they would agree too," Moroe said, as quoted by the Deccan Chronicle.
He added: "Anything that we can do to make the trip a special one for the newlyweds, we will try our best to make it happen.
After a long flight #TeamIndia make their way to the team hotel here in Cape Town, South Africa ?? pic.twitter.com/lFr3ktBvlX
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 28, 2017
"We are very happy to host the couple. Just as we are the BCCI family. These two countries have shared special relations in the past both politically and on the sporting fields.
"Virat is a world beater, a very dominant batsman. Giving him world-class hospitality should help soften him up for our bowlers to be able to put him away very quickly in the matches to come."
Dream wedding in Italy
After quite a lot of speculations, Kohli and Anushka tied the knot earlier this month at a heritage resort in Italy. The Indian captain, immediately after leading his side to a Test series win over Sri Lanka at home, had taken a break from cricket commitments as he missed the limited-over leg against the islanders.
After a week-long wedding celebrations in Tuscany, attended only by close friends and relatives, the celebrity couple honeymooned in Finland. The star cricketer and the celebrated Bollywood actor then hosted a couple of grand reception parties -- in New Delhi and Mumbai -- that were attended by big names from Bollywood and cricket fraternity.
India begin preparations
Meanwhile, Team India have begun preparation for the upcoming three-Test series, starting January 5 in Cape Town.
Kohli's men, under the watchful eyes of the support staff, had a couple of intense training sessions at the Western Province Cricket Club, which is situated near the Newlands Cricket Ground, the venue of the first Test between India and South Africa.
