Venues For India's Second And Third Test Against South Africa Swapped

India will host South Africa in three-match T20Is and Test series each starting from September 15 with the shorters formats. Ahead of the start of the series, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have swapped the venue of the second and the third Test on request of the Jharkhand State Cricket Association’s request.

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Venues for India-South Africa swapped

The Men in Blues is currently in the West Indies and will begin their three-match ODI series later today. Virat Kohli & Co will be high on confidence after completing a whitewash in the T20Is. India will hope to keep up the winning the momentum and redeem themselves of their shocking World Cup defeat. A two-match Test series will follow the ODIs which will be a part of the two-year-long ICC World Test Championship. The Test series against West Indies will be their first shot at the Championship and the Asian Giants will hope to make a winning start.

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Soon after the series against West Indies, India will ply their trade against South Africa comprising three T20Is and Test each. As per the schedule, BCCI awarded three Tests to Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, and Pune respectively. The second Test was scheduled to start from October 10 while October 19 will mark the beginning of the third and final match. However, with the Durga Puja festival clashing with the dates of the second Test, the Jharkhand State Association had requested the Board to swap the games.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators has accepted the request of the JSCA official and have swapped the venue. As a result, Pune will now host the second Test while Ranchi will be the venue for the third match.

“Durga Puja is a big festival in this part of the country, so we had written to the Board requesting them to shift the Test. We are glad that the CoA granted us the third Test,” a JSCA official told Sportstar.

The Test matches will be a part of the World Test Championship and India will be keen to secure some early points in the competition.