England's tour of India 2021 - Tests/T20Is & ODIs

[Stan AF]

[Stan AF]

England tour of India: Chennai, Ahmedabad to host Tests; ODIs to be held in Pune

 

 

 

 

Chennai and Ahmedabad will play hosts for India's upcoming four-Test series against England. The first two Tests will be played in Chennai (February 5-9 and February 13-17), with the newly refurbished Motera stadium hosting the next two matches, including the day-night Test from February 24.

 

Ahmedabad will also host the five-match T20I series between March 12 and 20, right after the Test leg of the tour.

England will land in Chennai on January 27, a day after finishing their Test tour of Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to be played behind closed doors in Galle.

 

ESPNcricinfo understands that along with Ahmedabad and Chennai, the BCCI had also discussed Mohali as a potential venue for the Test series, which will be the last fixture for both India and England in the inaugural cycle of the World Test Championship. Chennai got preference over Mohali eventually considering not only its proximity to Sri Lanka (roughly an hour-long flight from Colombo), but also the surface at Chepauk is better suited for the Indian bowling attack.

Ahmedabad, meanwhile, was chosen mainly because it has not hosted an international match for close to six years and also happens to be the home base for Shah, one of the two key office bearers in the BCCI along with the board president Sourav Ganguly.

The last international match played at Motera was the second match of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, in November 2014. The last domestic match was an IPL game in 2015 which Royal Challengers Bangalore won against hosts Rajasthan Royals.

The refurbished stadium at Motera, inaugurated in February by outgoing USA president Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, can accommodate 110,000 spectators, making it the biggest-capacity cricket ground in the world.

 

The newly laid ground has 11 pitches. It is understood the Gujarat Cricket Association will organise at least one unofficial match

contested between Gujarat's domestic players ahead of the Test series.

 

In a media release issued on Thursdsay to announce the itinerary, the BCCI said they had "restricted" the England tour to just three venues as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. India is currently second on the list of countries with most infections.

The BCCI has not made any comment on whether the matches would be played behind closed doors or whether it would allow restricted crowds. However, administrators are optimistic that crowds could come based on the directions provided by the Indian government.

 

The England tour is the first international cricket tournament that will be played in India since March, when South Africa had to abort their limited-overs tour midway and return home due to the pandemic.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah said the series promised to provide "high octane action" between two teams who he described as "powerhouses" of world cricket.

 

"The BCCI prioritises the health and safety of both teams and will leave no stone unturned to make sure that the tour is held adhering to all safety protocols agreed by the BCCI and ECB medical teams," Shah said in a press release.

Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive officer, said he was satisfied with the BCCI's planning to create a biosecure environment for the marquee series.

 

"International cricket between India and England is a highlight of the cricketing calendar and always attracts significant levels of interest from fans around the world," Harrison said.

"We have been delighted with the planning that has been undertaken by the BCCI to ensure the three venues in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune will be ready to host international cricket in a bio-secure environment and look forward to working closely with them over the coming weeks to finalise those plans."

 

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/30487971/england-tour-india-chennai-ahmedabad-host-tests-odis-held-pune

[Stan AF]

Glad that Sennai has 2 tests

[saik]

Hope the pitches in Chennai are sportive, They had become dust bowls in the recent past.

[Gollum]

3 minutes ago, saik said:

Hope the pitches in Chennai are sportive, They had become dust bowls in the recent past.

Dustbowl maybe for IPL games, to help their franchise. Chepauk test pitch last time against Eng was super flat, we scored 770/7 something, Nair 300, Rahul 199, even Eng scored a lot. 

[Gollum]

If we host them for 4 tests, we should play only 4 tests in Eng. 

 

Ahmedabad not sure, new pitch. Unpredictable, D/N unnecessary since no crowds will be allowed, just a stupid gimmick. Even if they had to include that should have been final test after demoralizing their quicks. Now Broad/Anderson can get their first 4fer in India. 

[Suhaan]

2 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Now Broad/Anderson can get their first 4fer in India. 

Kohli (Virat) Stark says"We have a Umesh(Hulk)"

 

[YCCC]

Do you guys think the series will be completed? After the SA fiasco I’m surprised the ECB didn’t ask to relocate the series to the UAE. India is chaotic at the best of times never mind when there’s a pandemic on!

[Tattieboy]

3 hours ago, saik said:

Hope the pitches in Chennai are sportive, They had become dust bowls in the recent past.

Every morning for 10 days I watched the groundsman and it was interesting to say the least .

The reason it is dust bowls is because at Chennai they don't grow grass on  the wicket but lay grass cuttings  on the wicket and roll it . 

I had never seen this technique before