India-WI second Test in Oct relocated to New Delhi; Kolkata to host India-SA first Test in Nov

New Delhi: India’s second Test of the two-match series against West Indies, scheduled for October 10-14 at Eden Gardens, will now be held at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi instead of its original venue in Kolkata, said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday.

At the same time, the BCCI announced that India’s first Test against South Africa, scheduled to take place from November 14 to November 18, has been relocated from New Delhi to the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The rest of the men’s international season schedule remains unchanged, though, added the BCCI.

It is to be noted that giving New Delhi the first India-South Africa Test had raised huge concerns over its safe hosting and well-being of the players, considering that it was to be held three weeks after Diwali, which is typically a period when the entire Delhi-NCR region is engulfed in smog and high pollution.

Poor air quality in Delhi had led to some Sri Lankan players wearing masks on the field during a Test against India in December 2017. Moreover, there were serious pollution-related concerns ahead of the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka match in New Delhi during the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup, with both teams cancelling training sessions in the lead-up to the clash.

Meanwhile, New Delhi will also be the host to the third India-Australia women’s ODI after the BCCI said the three-game series had to be moved out of Chennai due to the revamping of the outfield and pitches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The first two ODIs will now take place at the New PCA stadium in New Chandigarh, before the series-ending game is played in New Delhi. While this will be the first time New Chandigarh will host women’s international cricket, New Delhi will be back to hosting women’s ODI cricket after doing so in 1985 and 1995, respectively.

The BCCI further said the three one-day games between India ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’, scheduled to be held from November 13-19, have been moved from M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru to the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. The two multi-day matches between the two teams will be held at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (COE) in Bengaluru, as per the original itinerary.

IANS