BCCI Announces New Test Venues and Home Season

Today, BCCI announced the schedules for the international and domestic cricket season of 2016-17. Rajkot, Vizag, Pune, Dharamsala, Ranchi and Indore will be the new Test venues for the first time in the forthcoming season, where India will be playing thirteen Test matches, eight One Day Internationals, and three T20 Internationals.

New Zealand?s tour of India

The home season will start with three Test matches and five ODIs against New Zealand. This series against New Zealand will be played at Indore, Kanpur and Kolkata, whereas Dharamsala, Delhi, Mohali, Ranchi and Vizag will host the ODIs.

England?s tour of India

The New Zealand series will be followed by five Test matches, three ODIs and three T20Is against England. The Tests will be played at Mohali, Rajkot, Mumbai, Vizag and Chennai. Pune, Cuttack and Kolkata will be the venues for the three ODIs. Bengaluru, Nagpur and Kanpur will hold the three T20Is.

Australia?s tour of India

Australia will visit India in February-March 2017 to play four Test matches. The four Tests will be hosted by Bengaluru, Dharamsala, Ranchi and Pune.

Bangladesh is slated to play a one-off Test match which will be played at Hyderabad.

All these venues will get matches subject to the conditions that they number all the seats in the stadiums, and fulfill all the guidelines laid down by the BCCI.

Duleep Trophy to be played under lights

India cricket’s domestic season will kick off in the month of September. Interestingly, for the first time ever, Duleep Trophy will be played under lights and with a pink ball. During the season, a total of 918 matches will be organized that include games of the Ranji trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Irani Cup, women?s cricket and cricket of all other age groups. This translates into 1882 playing days between September 2016 to March 2017.

President of the BCCI, Mr. Anurag Thakur, said, ?I welcome the new Test venues hosting this prestigious format of cricket and their arrival will take Test match cricket, to every corner of the country. We are equally excited about the domestic season as we will be playing the Duleep trophy with the pink ball under lights and take this opportunity to welcome Chhattisgarh, who will play Ranji trophy for the first time. A combined team of Affiliate & Associate states will participate in the junior age group tournaments, which will provide the much needed opportunity to the emerging players from these areas. This further reaffirms our commitment to spread the game by providing the appropriate platforms to our next generation cricketers.”

BCCI secretary, Mr. Ajay Shirke said, ?Some of the best teams of world cricket are coming to play in India this season and we are excited to announce the schedule well ahead of time. This gives the staging associations and the BCCI, sufficient time to prepare and present, one of the most memorable cricketing seasons for our fans. I have full faith in our team at BCCI to deliver international & domestic cricket simultaneously and engage the ardent fans on all fronts.”