As the Omicron cases are seeing a massive spike in the country, the BCCI has announced in a recent report that Kolkata and Ahmedabad will be the two venues that will host the six-match series between India and the West Indies.
A BCCI source told TOI,
The tours and fixtures committee of thr BCCI held a meeting today. It was initially thought that the series could be played in multiple venues. However, due to the Covid situation, the committee has recommended that the white-ball series will now only be played in two venues- Ahmedabad and Kolkata.
The finalization of venues and fixtures by the BCCI is expected to be completed in a day or two.
In the initial itinerary, the ODI series was scheduled to commence on the 6th of February. It was to start in Ahmedabad, the second ODI was to be played in Jaipur on 9th February and the third ODI was to be held in Kolkata on the 12th of February.
Similarly, the T20I series was to be played in venues such as Cuttack, Vishakhapatnam, and Thiruvananthapuram respectively.
But, now the choice of venues has been narrowed down to two.
CWI happy to change their schedule as per BCCI request
The West Indies Cricket Board has also confirmed in their recent report that they will gladly accept the changes that the BCCI has put forward. They also said that their top priority is players’ safety and will also maintain strict protocol.
Ricky Skerritt in an interview with Cricbuzz revealed,
A request for such a change has not reached to me as yet. But we accept such operational actions by local boards in the interest of what is best for implementing health protocols.
According to further reports, the West Indies team is scheduled to arrive on the 1st of February. They will be undergoing a 3-day isolation period after which they will be allowed to have net sessions for two days before the commencement of the series.
Let’s hope the series goes off without any roadblocks that can hamper it at any point. It’s been a while since the New Zealand series last year. It would be a cracker of a contest between these two sides.
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