Kolkata: Barabati Stadium in Cuttack will host the second T20 International against New Zealand in October this year. A decision to this effect was taken during BCCI’s Tour and Fixtures Committee meeting here Tuesday.
It will be a hectic homes season for the Indian cricketers as they will take part in 23 matches spread across three series. The season kicks-off with five ODIs against Australia at Chennai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Indore and Kolkata followed by three T20 games at Hyderabad, Ranchi and Guwahati.
Once the Aussies depart, their neighbours New Zealand will land on Indian soil to play three ODIs (Pune, Mumbai and Kanpur) followed by three T20 internationals (Delhi, Cuttack and Rajkot). The Kiwis will arrive in India mid-October.
India will then host Sri Lanka from mid-November for three Tests, the same number of ODIs and T20 games. The Tests will be played at Kolkata, Nagpur and New Delhi. This will be followed by the three ODIs at Dharamsala, Mohali and Vizag. Sri Lanka will then wind up their tour with T20 matches at Kochi or the newly-accredited city of Thiruvanantpuram, Indore and Mumbai.
BCCI officials stated that the dates of the games will be announced at a later date.
“Dates of the matches have been deliberately not frozen today (Tuesday) because of 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 have been taken into account,” BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary told reporters here.