England to begin test series in India at new venue Rajkot
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - England will embark on their lengthy tour of India later this year with Rajkot hosting the first of the five test matches from November 9, the cricket boards announced on Friday.
Rajkot will be making its debut as a test venue in the series, as will be coastal Vishakapatnam, which hosts the second test from November 17.
Mohali, Mumbai and Chennai will host the remaining matches of what would be England's first five-test rubber in India since 1984-85.
Beginning on January 15, England will also play three one-dayers and as many Twenty20 Internationals.
"This promises to be a historic test series... and a great opportunity for Alastair Cook and his players to repeat the memorable test series win we enjoyed on our last trip to India in 2012," Andrew Strauss, Director England Cricket, said in a statement.
"Equally, Eoin Morgan's white-ball squad will be anticipating hard-fought and competitive encounters against high quality opposition in both formats..." he added.
Schedule:
Nov. 9-13: 1st test, Rajkot
Nov. 17-21: 2nd test, Vishakapatnam
Nov. 26-30: 3rd test, Mohali
Dec. 8-12: 4th test, Mumbai
Dec. 16-20: 5th test, Chennai
Jan. 15: 1st ODI, Pune
Jan. 19: 2nd ODI, Cuttack
Jan. 22: 3rd ODI, Kolkata
Jan. 26: 1st T20, Kanpur
Jan. 29: 2nd T20, Nagpur
Feb. 1: 3rd T20, Bangalore
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)