Kolkata’s Eden Gardens will host the final of the ICC World T20, to be held in India from March 11 to April 3, next year, across eight cities, the BCCI announced on Tuesday.
Matches will take place across Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamsala, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi and Kolkata, which gets to host the summit clash at the iconic Eden Gardens.
It has been learnt that Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium is in line for one of the two semi-finals while Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla in all likelihood will host the other semi-final.
“One of the semi-finals will be held in Mumbai. The other might be held in Delhi. In case the semi-final is not held in Delhi then it will host a marquee match like India versus Pakistan. Dharamsala will host an India game against one of the qualifiers,” BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur told reporters here on Tuesday.
The popular ground had missed out on hosting big ticket games during 50-over World Cup held in India four years ago. The India versus England game was shifted to Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru after ICC found that Eden Gardens’ renovation work was not complete.
However, Eden Gardens has organised marquee matches in the past, notably the 1987 Reliance Cup final and 1996 World Cup semi-final, which India forfeited the match to eventual champions Sri lanka due to a crowd disruption.
BCCI said the chosen venues will have to meet the prescribed requirements. “These venues will host the matches subject to fulfilling the prescribed requirements of the ICC and BCCI while adhering to the statutory obligations that are mandatory for hosting an International match,” said the BCCI in a statement.
The showpiece event of the shortest format will take place for the first time in India, who won the inaugural World T20 in 2007.
The Board has also constituted a managing committee for the biennial event, of which president Jagmohan Dalmiya will be the chairman and Thakur the convenor. The other members of the committee are joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary, treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, vice-president G Ganga Raju, IPl chairman Rajeev Shukla, Ashish Shelar, vice-president of Mumbai Cricket Association and Ashirbad Behera, secretary at Orissa Cricket Association.
Duleep to return next year
The BCCI on Tuesday clarified that the Duleep Trophy inter-zonal competition has not been scrapped altogether but will serve as the curtain raiser for next year’s domestic calendar after being dropped this season.
“BCCI wishes to clarify that...The Duleep Trophy remains an integral part of domestic calendar. BCCI wishes to reaffirm its keenness to add more relevance to the Duleep Trophy in the coming years and to prepare our cricketers for Test cricket,” the BCCI said in the release.
“India will play 12 Test matches at home in the next Season (2016-17) between October-March. Duleep trophy will be the curtain raiser for the forthcoming domestic season and provide a platform for the players to stake a claim,” it added.