The Wankhede stadium in Mumbai will host Sachin Tendulkar's landmark 200th and final Test with the BCCI on Tuesday acceding to the legendary batsman's wish to play his farewell match in front of his home crowd.
The BCCI's Programmes and Fixtures committee, headed by Rajiv Shukla, on Tuesday chalked out the detailed schedule of the hastily-arranged series against the West Indies, comprising two Tests and three one-dayers to be held next month.
"Tendulkar had requested that the 200th Test match should be given to Mumbai, so that his mother could also watch the match. The BCCI president and BCCI thought about it and accepted it. Keeping that sentiment in mind, it has been allocated to Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai," Shukla told reporters here.
The Eden Gardens in Kolkata will host the opening clash of the series from November 6 to 10 and like Wankhede, gets an 'out-of-turn' Test match as according to the BCCI's rotational policy, it was actually Bangalore and Ahmedabad's turn.
"The committee decided to give the first Test match against West Indies to Kolkata," he said.
Explaining the rationale to have the first Test in Kolkata, Shukla said, "Since both the Test matches are going to be important, it requires a bigger venue. A stadium which is large, that is why the first Test match has been given to Kolkata."
The Caribbean side will also play three ODIs slated for November 21, 24 and 27. The venues for the first two One-day Internationals will be Kochi and Visakhapatnam, respectively, while the third could either be held at Kanpur or Baroda.
"Out of three ODIs, two ODI venues have been decided as Kochi and Vizag. The third ODI is between Kanpur and Baroda, subject to technical clearance and that is why the inspection team will go to Kanpur. After that the third venue will be decided. The decision will be taken after one week for the third venue," Shukla said.
On the Board's plans to host a grand farewell for Tendulkar, Shukla said, "We will discuss that. The match starts on November 14th, so there is time. Working committee can also decide on that."
CAB happy to get 199th match
Kolkata: Upbeat at getting Tendulkar's penultimate Test of his career at Eden Gardens, Cricket Association of Bengal president Jagmohan Dalmiya on Tuesday promised that CAB would make it a memorable one.
"We will definitely plan things to make it memorable for the star Indian cricketer. The CAB would meet in a couple of days to chalk out the details," Dalmiya said, without divulging the details of the felicitation programme.
"I really appreciate the Board's decision as it is obviously Tendulkar's wish to play at home. At the same time, it would be a great opportunity to host the 199th Test here," Dalmiya said.
Meanwhile, a CAB official said they would not leave any stone unturned to make it memorable. "It's the biggest stadium in the country and it would be a fitting tribute to the maestro to host the farewell series here. We would have a plethora of events lined up for him to make it more memorable," the official said.