TheSportsCampus

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has come out with a revised schedule for the upcoming Australia tour of India and has confirmed dates for the India-New Zealand One Day Internationals to be played later in the year. The revised itenary comes after the Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi wrote a letter to the Sports Minister requesting his intervention after the BCCI had set match dates of the Australian tour during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The test matches to be played against Australia at Mohali and Bengaluru are now going to commence one day in advance than the proposed dates in the earlier schedule that was released. The 1st test match at Mohali now kicks off on the 1st of October followed by the Bengaluru test match on the 9th of October. Now the question that prevails is does this really help the cause of Suresh Kalmadi and the highly anticipated Commonwealth Games?

The only positive that arises out of this 'revised' arrangement is that the test matches now do not clash with the closing ceremony of the Games which takes place on the 14th of October. However, international cricket is still going to be take place in India during the two-week time span of the Games and will undoubtedly take away a large part of the gloss surrounding the Games. Sponsor, media and fan interest will be divided, and the Commonwealth Games run the risk of becoming just a Delhi-centric sideshow in a country mad about its cricket.

The one-day internationals against Australia are now being played two days in advance with the 1st ODI on the 17th of October in Kochi followed by games in Vizag and Goa on the 20th and 24th respectively. Sadly, with the ODIs starting just two days after the conclusion of the Games, there is the obvious threat that the memory of the biggest sporting spectacle ever hosted by India will fade away really soon after.

The BCCI has also announced dates for the one-day internationals against New Zealand which are going to take place at the end of the year.

Fixtures:

India v Australia

1st Test: 1-5 October, Mohali
2nd Test: 9-13 October, Bengaluru

1st ODI: 17th October, Kochi
2nd ODI: 20th October, Vizag
3rd ODI: 24th October, Goa

India v New Zealand

1st Test: 4-8 November, Ahmedabad
2nd Test: 12-16 November, Kanpur
3rd Test: 20-24 November, Nagpur

1st ODI: 28th November, Guwahati
2nd ODI: 1st December, Mohali
3rd ODI: 4th December, Hyderabad
4th ODI: 7th December, Bengaluru
5th ODI: 10th December, Chennai

File Photograph Copyright: B. Sandman