No day-night Test matches in New Zealand tour of India

New Zealand will be touring India in September – October this year, but the BCCI president Anurag Thakur said that India won’t be playing a day/night Test match in the series. It comprises of 3 Test matches, and 5 One Day Internationals. As per the BCCI itinerary, all three Tests – in Kanpur, Kolkata, and Indore – will start at 9:30am.

Initially, Eden Gardens was allotted to host the third match, but that was later revised following a request from Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly. Ganguly had emailed BCCI as the match clashed with Bengal’s annual autumn festival, Durga Puja.

New Zealand is the first of the four teams to tour India in the coming season, which consists of a total of 13 Tests. England, Australia and Bangladesh are the three teams that will tour India this season.

BCCI president Anurag Thakur had said in April that India would play one against New Zealand. “We have decided that we will play one day/night Test match with the pink ball against New Zealand later this year.” He, however, said last week that the BCCI is in “no hurry” to go ahead with the day-night Test. Duleep Trophy will be played under lights this term as a “dress rehearsal” for a day/night Test in the near future.

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Dharamsala, Delhi, Mohali, Ranchi, and Vizag will host the five ODIs on October 16, 19, 23, 26 and 29 respectively.

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