This story is from September 18, 2021

Come November, Lucknow to be back as a Test match centre

Lucknow will be hosting its first Test match in nearly 28 years when the New Zealand team comes to India after the T20 World Cup in UAE in November. This will be the new Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium’s first Test match after the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) opened it for First-Class cricket in 2016.
Come November, Lucknow to be back as a Test match centre
The match against Sri Lanka at KD Singh Babu Stadium in January 1994 was the last Test featuring India in the city.
NEW DELHI: Lucknow will be hosting its first Test match in nearly 28 years when the New Zealand team comes to India after the T20 World Cup in UAE in November. This will be the new Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium’s first Test match after the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) opened it for First-Class cricket in 2016.
The match against Sri Lanka at KD Singh Babu Stadium in January 1994 was the last Test featuring India in the city.
TOI has learnt that the Indian cricket board (BCCI) has finalized the venues for the two Test matches against New Zealand. The other Test match will be played at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru.
TOI understands that the board feels that Lucknow is going to be a major cricketing centre. With two new IPL teams set to come in next year, Lucknow is believed to be one of the host cities besides Ahmedabad. “The stadium has good facilities and a capacity of nearly 70000,” a senior BCCI official told TOI.
‘Lucknow was shortlisted for T20 WC if India played host this year’
“That’s a good deal for any IPL franchise. Like Ahmedabad, it’s important to give Lucknow exposure to marquee international matches before the IPL teams are finalized. Lucknow was also shortlisted as a venue for the T20 World Cup if it happened in India this year,” a senior BCCI official further told TOI.
The Test series will be preceded by the three-T20I series which is likely to begin in the last week of November. The T20 specialists will travel in a bubble from UAE after the T20 World Cup. It will also offer a chance for the senior players, who have been on the road for most of the year, to skip the series and get some rest. The turnaround time from the home series against New Zealand and the first Test in Johennesburg in the third week of December will be around 10 days. The board has kept in mind the need for bubble-to-bubble transfer. Sri Lanka coming for two Tests, three T20Is in Feb-March TOI has also learnt that the Sri Lankan team will come to India for a two-Test series and three T20Is in Feb-March after the Indian team comes back from the full tour of South Africa in late January.
The two Tests will be a part of the World Test Championship. As of Mumbai has been zeroed in to host one of the Test matches. The board will soon finalise the entire domestic season.
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