Mumbai: The Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee of the BCCI met in Mumbai earlier on Thursday to finalise the schedules for International and domestic cricket season of 2016-17.
Rajkot, Vizag, Pune, Dharamsala, Ranchi and Indore will host Test matches for the first time in the forthcoming season where India will be playing thirteen Test matches, eight One-day Internationals, and three T20 Internationals.
"India cricket", the home season will start with three Test matches and five ODI’s against New Zealand followed by five Test Matches, three ODI’s and three T20I’s against England. Australia will visit India in February-March 2017 to play four Test matches and Bangladesh is slated to play a one-off Test match in India.
The three Test match series against New Zealand will be played at Indore, Kanpur and Kolkata.
Dharamsala, Delhi, Mohali, Ranchi and Vizag will host the five ODI’s against New Zealand.
Five Test matches against England will be played at Mohali, Rajkot, Mumbai, Vizag and Chennai.
Pune, Cuttack and Kolkata will be the venues for the three ODI’s.
Bengaluru, Nagpur and Kanpur will hold the three T20I’s against England.
Australia will tour India in February 2017 to play four Test matches hosted by Bengaluru, Dharamsala, Ranchi and Pune.
A stand alone Test match against Bangladesh will be played at Hyderabad.
All these venues will get matches subject to the condition that they have numbered the seats in the stadiums and fulfill all the guidelines laid down by the BCCI.
India Cricket's domestic season will kick off in the month of September where in for the first time ever, Duleep Trophy will be played under lights and with a Pink Ball. During the entire season 918 matches will be organized that includes Ranji trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Irani Trophy, Women’s cricket and all other age group cricket.
This translates into 1882 playing days between September 2016 to March 2017.
President of the BCCI, 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 cricketer."
Honorary Secretary of the BCCI 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."
