BCCI have announced the schedule of India's domestic and international cricket calendar at home for the 2016-2017 season. The Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee of the BCCI had a meeting on Thursday to decide the schedule.
In the upcoming season, India will play 13 Test matches, eight ODIs and three T20Is.
Indore, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Dharamsala, Pune and Ranchi will host Test matches for the first time.
"I welcome the new Test venues hosting this prestigious format of cricket and their arrival will take Test match cricket, to every corner of the country," BCCI president Anurag Thakur was quoted as saying by the official website.
Here is the India schedule for the 2016-2017 season:
New Zealand tour of India 2016: India's home season will begin with a series against New Zealand, in which they will play three Test matches and five ODIs. The three Test matches will be played in Indore, Kanpur and Kolkata. While the five ODIs will be played in Dharamsala, Delhi, Mohali, Ranchi and Vizag.
England tour of India 2016: Soon after New Zealand departs, England will be touring India for five Test Matches, three ODIs and three T20Is. Mohali, Rajkot, Mumbai, Vizag and Chennai will host the five Test matches against England. The three ODIs will be played in Pune, Cuttack and Kolkata and the three T20 games will be hosted by Bengaluru, Nagpur and Kanpur.
Australia tour of India 2017: Australia will come to India in February-March 2017. In this tour, they will take on India in four Test matches. Bengaluru, Dharamsala, Ranchi and Pune will host the four matches.
Bangladesh one-off Test match 2017: The only Test match that India will play against Bangladesh will be held in Hyderabad.
BCCI have also announced that the Duleep Trophy in the upcoming season will played under the floodlights and also with a pink ball. The domestic cricket season is slated to start from September and BCCI are going to arrange a total of 918 matches that includes the Ranji trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Irani Cup, women's cricket and all other age group cricket.
"We are equally excited about the domestic season as we will be playing the Duleep trophy with the pink ball under lights and take this opportunity to welcome Chhattisgarh, who will play Ranji trophy for the first time," Thakur added.
"A combined team of Affiliate & Associate states will participate in the junior age group tournaments, which will provide the much needed opportunity to the emerging players from these areas. This further reaffirms our commitment to spread the game by providing the appropriate platforms to our next generation cricketer."
