International cricket will return to Calcutta when Eden Gardens hosts the third and final T20I against New Zealand on November 21.
Eden will host another match during the coming home season, the third and final ODI against the West Indies on February 12, 2022.
The last International match at the Eden was the Day-Night Test against Bangladesh in November 2019.
Besides New Zealand and the West Indies, Sri Lanka and South Africa will also tour India during the 2021-22 home season, for a total of four Tests, three ODIs and 14 T20Is.
The home series were all part of the Future Tours Programme of the ICC though there has been one change. As per the original plan, Sri Lanka were supposed to play three Tests but that has been reduced to two. Additionally they will play three T20Is in February-March 2022.
This stress on T20Is has been done keeping in view the T20 World Cup in Australia next year.
Only three days after the scheduled T20 World Cup final on November 14 in Dubai — a reserve day has been scheduled for November 15 — New Zealand will play the first T20I in Jaipur.
The T20I series will be followed by two Tests against the current World Test champions in Kanpur and Mumbai. This will be New Zealand’s first Test tour of India since 2016, when they lost 0-3.
After the New Zealand series in December, India are scheduled to tour South Africa for three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is from December 17 to January 26. Back home, there will be the series versus the West Indies.
Between the Sri Lanka and South Africa home series, the BCCI — led by Sourav Ganguly — will also slot in the IPL, this time with 10 teams. The packed home calendar has forced the BCCI to slot the five T20Is versus South Africa in June, covering for the ODIs that were abandoned last year because of the pandemic.
The month of June has generally been kept out of the international cricketing calendar because of the extreme heat and the onset of monsoon in certain parts of the country.
The BCCI may also have to think about formulating a rotation policy for the cricketers given the narrow gap between matches and series. Otherwise it could take a toll on the players’ fitness and performance.
According to the rotation system, most of the cities, including centres like Ranchi and Cuttack, have been scheduled T20Is.
