NEW DELHI, Feb 15: The India – West Indies three match T20 Cricket series starting at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, from Wednesday will quickly be followed by another three-match T20 series, this time against Sri Lanka.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Tuesday announced a revised schedule for the upcoming Sri Lanka Tour of India. The tourists, who were supposed to play two Test matches, followed by a three-match T20I series, will now play the T20Is first, followed by the two Tests. The series, which was earlier supposed to begin from February 25, will now start a day earlier from February 24 instead.
“Sri Lanka will first play the T20I series, comprising three matches followed by a two-match Test series, which will be a part of the ICC World Test Championship, 2021-23,” an official BCCI release stated. It did not give the reasons for the change in the schedule.
Lucknow will now host the first T20I while the next two will be played in Dharamsala. The first Test will now be held in Mohali from March 4th to 8th and the second Test will be played from March 12th to 16th in Bengaluru. All the three matches against West Indies are scheduled to be played in Kolkata.
The delay in the start of the Test series means the national selectors have a little more time to decide on who will be appointed the next captain of the Indian Test team. Virat Kohli had stepped down from the position after India’s loss to South Africa last month. Rohit Sharma is the leading candidate to take over the responsibility as he is also the designated captain of the Indian cricket team in limited overs cricket as of now.
(Manas Dasgupta)
