Guwahati: The Barsapara Cricket Stadium in the city is all set to host its first-ever One-day International in the new year when India takes on Sri Lanka in the first of the three-match ODI rubber on January 10.
A BCCI team is reportedly expected in the city on January 1 to conduct an inspection of the stadium’s readiness to host a 50-over game. The stadium has so far hosted T20 Internationals, and last hosted a match between India and South Africa on October 2, 2022.
The venue, however, grabbed headlines for the wrong reasons on multiple occasions. In 2020, the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka was washed out after water seeped onto the pitch despite a three-layer cover. And to make matters worse, the ACA officials took resort of hair dryer, stem iron and battery-operated fans among other items in a futile effort to dry up the surface.
In October 2022, the stadium once again was in the news for the wrong reasons after a snake slithered onto the playing area before being guarded out by the groundsmen, resulting in play being halted for about five minutes. A second interruption followed in the second innings of the game against the Proteas when one of four floodlight towers went off, stopping play for 18 minutes.
The series against the Sri Lankans will be followed by two more home series against New Zealand and Australia. While the Sri Lankans and the Kiwis will play only limited-overs cricket during their respective tours, the Kangaroos will take on the Indians in a four-match Test series, followed by a three-match ODI rubber.
India will open their home series against the Sri Lankans with a three-match T20I series, starting January 3 in Mumbai, followed by matches in Pune (Jan 5) and Rajkot (Jan 7). Both teams will then move to Guwahati for the 50-over games, starting with the first match on January 10, followed by games in Kolkata (Jan 12) and Trivandrum (Jan 15), respectively.
The action will then move to a three-match ODI series against New Zealand wherein Hyderabad, Raipur and Indore will play the hosts. The second ODI on January 21 will be a marquee ODI for the city of Raipur as they will host their first international fixture. The opening ODI will be played on January 18 while the third game will be held on January 24. Team India will also play a three-match T20I series against New Zealand in Ranchi (Jan 27), Lucknow (Jan 29) and Ahmedabad (Feb 1).
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After the conclusion of the series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, the Indian team will battle for the Border-Gavaskar trophy against Australia in four Tests that will start in Nagpur from Feb 9. India will then play the next three Test matches in Delhi (Feb 17-21), Dharamsala (Mar 1-5) & Ahmedabad (Mar 9-13). This will also be the last edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which will be a four-match Test series feature.
The home series will then conclude with a three-match ODI series that will be held in Mumbai (March 17), Vizag (Mar 19) and Chennai (Mar 22).
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Wrong news! Already hosted IND WI ODI in Oct 2018