BELAGAVI: The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) stadium in Belagavi is being spruced up for an international cricket series. It has already hosted several state-level matches, including the Ranji Trophy as well as women’s international cricket matches. However, this is the first time men’s international matches will be conducted here in the last week of May.
One test match and three one-day matches between India-A and Sri Lanka-A teams are scheduled to be played from May 25 to June 10. In its upcoming tour of India, the Sri Lankan team will play a series of two test matches and five one-day matches. The first test match will be played at Belagavi stadium from May 25 to May 28, and the second match will be played at Nehru stadium, Hubballi, from May 31 to June 3. After this, five one-day matches will be played from June 6, of which the first three matches will be played on June 6, 8 and 10 in Belagavi, while the remaining two matches will be played on June 14 and 15 in Hubballi.
Since these are international matches, a team from BCCI recently visited the stadiums to review pitch standards, ground conditions, security arrangements and other basic amenities. Speaking to Express, ground curator Deepak Pawar said that plans are in full swing, as there are only two weeks left for the series to start. A digital score board will be utilized in the stadium this time round, he said.
A series of three T-20 women’s matches between the Bangladesh-A team and India-A team was played here in 2017. Recently, the Ranji Trophy was played here between Karnataka and Mumbai, which ended in a draw.