BCCI lines up 23 matches involving Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
The BCCI awarded three Test matches of the November-December home series against Sri Lanka to Kolkata, Nagpur and Delhi while the new stadium at Barsapara, Guwahati was given a marquee T20 International against Australia in October.
The decisions were taken at the Board’s tours and fixtures committee meeting here.
It will be a big home season for the Indian team as it will play 23 international matches across three series starting end of September and concluding at the end of December.
The BCCI’s Tours and Fixtures Committee however did not announce the dates keeping in mind the logistics.
“Dates of the matches deliberately not frozen today because of the logistics. Local factors such festivals, like Durga Puja being what it is in the whole of eastern India and not only West Bengal and other public holidays. The logistics of distances,” acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary told mediapersons.
The season starts mid September with five ODIs against Australia slated to be played at Chennai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Indore and Kolkata.
The three T20 Internationals against the Aussies will be held in Hyderabad, Ranchi and Guwahati.
The series against New Zealand will commence mid-October and the three ODIs will be held in Pune, Mumbai and Kanpur followed by three T20 Internationals at Delhi, Cuttack and Rajkot. The final stretch of the international season at home will commence from middle of November with Kolkata hosting the first Test against Sri Lanka.
The second Test is scheduled in Nagpur, which will be making a comeback after ICC suspension for poor pitch. The final Test will be held in Delhi.
The three ODIs against Sri Lanka will be held in Dharamsala, Mohali and Vizag.The three T20 Internationals will be held in Kochi or at the newly-accredited Thiruvananthapuram, Indore and Mumbai.
Asked about the Sri Lanka tour being advanced, Choudhary said: “That tweaking had to happen because Sri Lanka is organising an Independence Cup in Sri Lanka, shortly after India’s return from South Africa in March.”
The acting secretary also reminded about how Sri Lanka has stood by India at all global platforms. “Sri Lanka has always co-operated with India and therefore India will be making a reciprocal short version only to play the Independence Cup. That’s why the tweaking has taken place,” he said.
“Another reason being there are six proposed exchange of tours between India and Pakistan, which did not happen so those spaces had to be adjusted.”
“The Eden Gardens Test match against Sri Lanka is on November 16,” informed CAB president Sourav Ganguly adding that the ODI against Australia will be held in September.
INTERNATIONAL SCHEDULE
I didn’t see any change, the nucleus of the team is pretty much the same and I know what to expect from them, they know what to expect from me