BCCI swaps venues for India’s Tests against WI and SA; women’s ODIs against AUS moved out of Chennai

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made changes to the schedule for the home season later this year , swapping venues for the two-match Test series against West Indies and South Africa that will be played in October and November respectively.

India are scheduled to play four Tests at home later this year after the marquee five-Test series in England that gets underway 11 days from now , with the hosts playing two Tests each against West Indies and South Africa.

The series against West Indies gets underway on 2 October and concludes by the 14th of that month. The first Test against the Proteas, who will be facing Australia in the ICC World Test Championship final at Lord’s in a couple of days’ time, gets underway on 14 November and will conclude by the 26th.

The BCCI, however, has swapped the venues for the second Test against the West Indies and the first Test against South Africa, which were scheduled to take place at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and New Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium. Kolkata will now host the second Test against the Windies while Delhi will host the series opener against South Africa.

India vs Australia women’s ODIs moved out of Chennai

The board confirmed the changes while announcing a slew of changes for the 2024-25 home season. Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, a.k.a. Chepauk, will not be hosting three women’s ODIs against reigning world champions Australia ahead of the ICC Women’s World Cup.

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) has informed the BCCI of its inability to host the games as they plan on relaying pitches and working on the outfield in preparation for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup that will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka early next year.

The New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh will be hosting the first two games of the ODI series against Australia, which takes place between 14 and 20 September, while Delhi hosts the third and final game.

Additionally, three one-day games between India A and South Africa A have been moved from Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium to the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, with the former set to host major games in the Women’s World Cup including the opener as well as the final – unless Pakistan qualify, in which case it will be held in Colombo.

Additionally, BCCI’s Centre of Excellence will be making its debut as a First-Class venue by hosting two four-day games between the two ‘A’ teams of India and South Africa.