Test cricket will return to Eden Gardens after a two-year gap, after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today named Kolkata and Nagpur as the venues of the two-match India-South Africa test series scheduled next month.
Kanpur, Jaipur and Ahmedabad would host the one day internationals, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement today.
The exact dates of the matches would be announced in a day or two, Srinivasan added.
The last time Kolkata hosted a test was in November-December 2007, when India played Pakistan.
South Africa were initially scheduled to arrive here next month for a five-match one-day series.
However, BCCI realised that playing just two Tests in the next 11 months — both against lowly Bangladesh — would not be enough to retain India's status as the number one test team.
The Board then convinced Cricket South Africa to drop two one-dayers and squeeze in a couple of test matches instead.
CSA, which in the past had agreed to host the second edition of the Indian Premier League on a very short notice, eventually agreed to the proposal, but asked BCCI to ensure that the team was not made to travel a lot in between matches.
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