Kolkata, Mumbai to host Windies Tests

India

Cricket365
October 23, 2013

Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai have been confirmed as the venues for India's two-Test series against the West Indies next month.

The decision, which has afforded the retiring Sachin Tendulkar a 200th and final Test in front of his home crowd, was made at the Board of Control for Cricket in India's tour, programme and fixtures committee meeting on Tuesday.

The grounds for the first two of the ODIs preceding the Test series, too, have been named. The Nehru Stadium in Kochi and the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam will host ODIs one and two respectively, and Baroda or Kanpur the third.

The entire series, announced in September, was not scheduled on the International Cricket Council's Future Tours Programme – and subsequently raised doubts over India's full tour to South Africa, which is bound to be severely curtailed.

"Perhaps the most concerning example is the recent attempt by BCCI president N Srinivasan to manipulate the FTP schedule to his own benefit. There is a formal, unequivocal and unanimous ICC board resolution approving the current FTP schedule," read a recent statement from former ICC Head of Legal David Becker.

"When the ICC allows one of its directors to blatantly disregard an ICC board resolution, it becomes more than questionable governance – it becomes improper. The original FTP agreement was approved as a binding regulation of the ICC in 2004."