Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has released the schedule for the three home series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Australia. The Indian team will play a three-match T20 and ODI series against Sri Lanka in January. After this, the team will also play a three-match ODI and T20 series against New Zealand in January-February. At the same time, Australia will also tour India in February-March. During this, a four-match Test series will be played between the two teams. Then a three-match ODI series will also be played between the two teams.
After finishing the ODI and Test series against Bangladesh, the Indian team will play at home for the next three months. It will start with the tour of Sri Lanka in January. These three series are very important in view of the World Cup to be held in India next year. Team India will play the first T20 series against Sri Lanka. After that, the three-match ODI series will be played.
India will host New Zealand for six matches in January-February itself. During this, three T20 and three ODIs will be played between the two teams. Indore, Ranchi, and Lucknow have also got to host one match each. India-New Zealand third ODI will be played on January 24 in Indore. At the same time, the first T20 will be played in Ranchi on January 27. India-New Zealand 2nd T20 will be played on January 29 at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. The series will end in Ahmedabad.
Australia’s tour of India after the limited-overs series against New Zealand is going to be very important. During this, both the teams will face each other in the first four-match Test series. The first Test will be played in Nagpur from February 9. After this, the second Test will be played in Delhi from February 17 and the third Test in Dharamshala from March 1. The fourth and last Test will be played in Ahmedabad on March 9. The final of the World Test Championship is also to be held next year.
In this context, it is necessary for India to win the Test series. It may also happen that India has to win this series 4-0. Also, this is the last Test series of Border-Gavaskar in which four Tests will be played. According to the new schedule of the ICC, from now on the number of matches in the India-Australia Test series has been increased from four to five. After the Test series, the teams of India and Australia will be face to face in the three-match ODI series. These matches will be played in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, and Chennai.