England tour of India: Chennai, Ahmedabad to host Tests; ODIs to be held in Pune

Chennai and Ahmedabad will play hosts for India’s impending four-Check sequence against England. The 1st two Tests will be played in Chennai (February five-nine and February thirteen-seventeen), with the recently refurbished Motera stadium web hosting the following two matches, which includes the working day-evening Check from February 24.

Ahmedabad will also host the 5-match T20I sequence involving March twelve and 20, appropriate following the Check leg of the tour.

England will land in Chennai on January 27, a working day following ending their Check tour of Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to be played guiding shut doors in Galle.

ESPNcricinfo understands that alongside with Ahmedabad and Chennai, the BCCI experienced also discussed Mohali as a potential venue for the Check sequence, which will be the last fixture for both of those India and England in the inaugural cycle of the World Check Championship. Chennai obtained choice in excess of Mohali inevitably thinking about not only its proximity to Sri Lanka (approximately an hour-long flight from Colombo), but also the area at Chepauk is greater suited for the Indian bowling assault.

Ahmedabad, in the meantime, was picked out mostly since it has not hosted an intercontinental match for close to 6 many years and also transpires to be the property base for Shah, a single of the two crucial business office bearers in the BCCI alongside with the board president Sourav Ganguly.

The last intercontinental match played at Motera was the second match of the ODI sequence against Sri Lanka, in November 2014. The last domestic match was an IPL game in 2015 which Royal Challengers Bangalore received against hosts Rajasthan Royals.

The refurbished stadium at Motera, inaugurated in February by outgoing United states president Donald Trump and Indian Primary Minister Narendra Modi, can accommodate one hundred ten,000 spectators, producing it the major-capacity cricket floor in the entire world.

The recently laid floor has eleven pitches. It is recognized the Gujarat Cricket Association will organise at the very least a single unofficial match contested involving Gujarat’s domestic gamers forward of the Check sequence.

In a media launch issued on Thursdsay to announce the itinerary, the BCCI said they experienced “restricted” the England tour to just three venues as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. India is now second on the list of nations with most infections.

The BCCI has not created any comment on whether or not the matches would be played guiding shut doors or whether or not it would allow for restricted crowds. Nevertheless, directors are optimistic that crowds could come dependent on the directions delivered by the Indian governing administration.

The England tour is the 1st intercontinental cricket event that will be played in India since March, when South Africa experienced to abort their confined-overs tour halfway and return property thanks to the pandemic.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah said the sequence promised to offer “substantial octane action” involving two teams who he explained as “powerhouses” of entire world cricket.

“The BCCI prioritises the wellbeing and security of both of those teams and will depart no stone unturned to make positive that the tour is held adhering to all security protocols agreed by the BCCI and ECB health care teams,” Shah said in a push launch.

Tom Harrison, the ECB main executive officer, said he was contented with the BCCI’s organizing to develop a biosecure natural environment for the marquee sequence.

“International cricket involving India and England is a spotlight of the cricketing calendar and constantly appeals to significant stages of desire from admirers close to the entire world,” Harrison said.

“We have been delighted with the organizing that has been undertaken by the BCCI to ensure the three venues in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune will be completely ready to host intercontinental cricket in a bio-protected natural environment and seem ahead to doing work closely with them in excess of the coming months to finalise these ideas.”