BCCI announces Team India’s busy schedule for 2021-22 home season. New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa and West Indies to tour India.
Subject to normalcy in terms of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, India are scheduled to play New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and South Africa in the upcoming 2021-22 home season after the last season got terribly affected by the worldwide pandemic.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah on Monday announced the home schedule of 2021-22 for the India men’s team which will start from November 17, 2021.
Workload management sure to bother Team India
Remarkably, there is only a three-day gap between the end of the T20 World Cup 2021 and India’s home season as the final of the premier event in the shortest format is set to be played on November 14, 2021 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India will play New Zealand in a T20I game on November 17, 2021 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
With concerns raised on scheduling and workload management, this announcement is sure to raise a few eyebrows in the Indian team. The outgoing T20I captain Virat Kohli has time and again stressed on the need for proper scheduling with weightage given to workload management and mental health well-being of players as they are required to be on tours spending time away from their homes for considerable lengths.
But it is also true that abandonment of Ranji Trophy in 2020-21 and only one international team, England visiting India in February-March 2021 for all-format fixtures in the last season had affected BCCI coffers. BCCI, in an additional move, has decided to raise the compensation of domestic players by around 50 per cent per Ranji Trophy game for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
Read More: Virat Kohli to step down as skipper in T20 format after WC to focus on batting
A total of 14 T20Is, 3 ODIs and 4 Tests to be played by India in 2021-22 at home
India is set to host 14 T20Is, three ODIs and four Tests, decided by the BCCI after the meeting on Monday.
New Zealand and Sri Lanka are set to visit India for two Tests and three T20Is each in November-December 2021 and February-March 2022 respectively.
West Indies will tour India for three ODIs and as many T20Is in February 2022. In between the home series, India are scheduled to tour South Africa in December-January for an all-format series.
Kanpur and Mumbai are the two cities where India will face New Zealand in the 2-Test series while the other two venues for the two Tests against Sri Lanka are Bengaluru and Mohali. Both the series are part of the World Test Championship 2021-23 cycle.
After the end of the 15th edition of Indian Premier League in 2022, the schedule for which is yet to be released, India will end their home season by facing off against South Africa in June 2022 which will entail a five T20I-series.
INDIA’S HOME SCHEDULE OF 2021/22
ICC T20 World Cup 2021: India to play warm-up games against England, Australia
India vs New Zealand – 2021
1st T20I – November 17, Jaipur,
2nd T20I – November 19, Ranchi,
3rd T20I – November 21, Kolkata
1st Test – November 25-29, Kanpur,
2nd Test – December 3-7, Mumbai
India vs West Indies – 2022
1st ODI – February 6, Ahmedabad,
2nd ODI – February 9, Jaipur,
3rd ODI – February 12, Kolkata
1st T20I – February 15, Cuttack,
2nd T20I – February 18, Visakhapatnam,
3rd T20I – February 20, Thiruvananthapuram
India vs Sri Lanka – 2022
1st Test – February 25-March 1, Bengaluru,
2nd Test – March 5-9, Mohali
1st T20I – March 13, Mohali,
2nd T20I – March 15, Dharamsala,
3rd T20I – March 18, Lucknow
IPL 2022 – Schedule yet to be announced.
India vs South Africa – 2022
1st T20I – June 9, Chennai,
2nd T20I – June 12, Bengaluru,
3rd T20I – June 14, Nagpur,
4th T20I – June 15, Rajkot,
5th T20I – June 19, Delhi.
