Uncertainty continues over the venues for the India v New Zealand ODI series

A day after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the dates and venues for the ODI and T20I series against Australia and New Zealand, confusion prevails over the venues. The uncertainty is the venue for the third ODI between the hosts and the Kiwis scheduled to play on October 29. On Thursday, Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) was awarded the game in the official announcement made by BCCI.

However, it is still not clear whether the new stadium in Uttar Pradesh will be able to host the match. BCCI has already made a mess of itinerary for the Australia series which was not finalised until Thursday. Now as the uncertainty looms over the venue for India-New Zealand, things are not looking good for them.

New Stadium yet to receive an approval from ICC

While the UPCA officials are trying to bring the match to Lucknow – where the opener of Duleep Trophy 2017 is being hosted – the stadium is still under construction and all the required infrastructure and logistical facilities are not in place to host an international fixture. Also, the board officials are not ready to reveal how much work is pending. The new stadium is yet to get the required permission from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to host international matches.

Though the officials are confident of completing the work in the next 40 days and if they are unable to do so, the match would be played at Green Park in Kanpur. Also as per the schedule earlier, the third T20I between India and New Zealand was to be held in the Barabati Stadium but then it was moved to Thiruvananthapuram due to Bali Jatra, the local festival set to begin on November 4.

India is scheduled to play 11 One-Day Internationals, 9 T20Is and 3 Tests in the hectic home season in next couple of months. The series against Australia will commence from September 17 in Chennai following which New Zealand and Sri Lanka are slated to visit the country.