The BCCI came up with a novel idea to announce the schedule for the upcoming New Zealand series, with the India players taking to Twitter to name the matches, one at a time
India have a hectic home schedule for the 2016-17 home season, with the Kiwis, England and Australia set to tour the country. The BCCI announced dates for the Black Caps' visit to India, with the tour set to take place in September and October.
India will host New Zealand in a three-match Test series and five ODIs. Virat Kohli will lead India in the longer format, while MS Dhoni will captain the Men in Blue in the ODIs. No T20 matches are scheduled to be played during the tour.
This series will be India's new coach Anil Kumble's first assignment at home. His first test, overall, lies in the upcoming tour of the West Indies, which starts next month.
The India-New Zealand series is going to hold special importance for the Holkar Stadium, Indore, which was recently added as a Test venue, and will be hosting the third Test. However, the first and second match of the series will be played at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur and Eden Gardens, Kolkata respectively. Kolkata were supposed to host the third Test, but owing to Durga Puja celebrations, it was given the previous slot.
India are always a strong team at home, but New Zealand will hope to come up with a better performance in the Test series as they lost 2-0 last time around in 2012.
The ODI series starts at picturesque HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on October 16, and concludes in 29th of the same month in Vizag.
The India players announced theschedule on Twitter via interesting tweets.
India vs New Zealand schedule
Test series:
1st Test: September 22-26 in Kanpur
2nd Test: September 30-October 4 in Kolkata
3rd Test: October 8-12 in Indore
ODI series:
1st ODI: October 16 in Dharamsala
2nd ODI: October 19 in Delhi
3rd ODI: October 23 Mohali
4th ODI: October 26 in Ranchi
5th ODI: October 29 in Visakhapatnam
