With Jet Airways not looking sure of starting the operations soon, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to sign a deal with Air India. BCCI has already signed the deal with the national carrier for the ongoing series against South Africa. If Air India manages to satisfy the BCCI with its services, the two parties could extend the deal for a year.

Earlier this year in April, Jet Airways decided to rest its complete fleet for an indefinite period. Consequently, Team India had faced some problems while traveling to the UK for the World Cup. The BCCI then opted to book flights with Fly Emirates tickets to make sure the players reach the UK in time. Even after the conclusion of the World Cup, the team was forced to change the airlines.

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An Air India source of Indian Express has now confirmed that both the parties are in talks for a deal. He has the affirmation that the current deal for the ongoing series against South Africa. The source added, “We have joined hands with the BCCI and the Indian team traveled by Air India to Dharamsala and will be using the services through the series. Post that, we will sit and assess how to move forward.”

A BCCI official also talked about the deal. The functionary said that the BCCI is looking at working with Air India and if things go well, the one-series agreement can be turned out to become an annual contract.

The official elaborated, “We are doing the current South Africa series with Air India since Jet is no longer flying. We had a contract with them (Jet) when it came to the team traveling in India. But we had to look at options at the start of this home season and we decided to give this a go and if all goes well, we move to a longer contract, say an annual one. The board had an annual contract with Jet in 2015, then we had a one-year contract with Air India in 2016 before going back to Jet for 2017 and 2018.”

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Talking about the series, the first T20I was washed out in Dharamsala. The second game will take place in Mohali on Wednesday. Both the teams will play a total of three T20Is and as many Tests.