Lucknow to host first international match during West Indies tour of India
Lucknow's Ekana International Cricket Stadium is set to get its first taste of international cricket as the stadium has been announced as the venue for the second T20I between India and West Indies on November 6. The fixture was awarded to the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association and it was a toss-up between Kanpur and Lucknow to see where the match was going to be held and it is now official, Lucknow's brand-new stadium will play host to its first-ever international match.
West Indies' tour of India, which consists of two Tests, five ODIs, and three T20Is begins on October 4. Rajkot and Hyderabad are the venues for the two Tests, which will kick of West Indies' tour. Next up is the five ODIs which will be hosted in Guwahati, Indore, Pune, Mumbai, and Thiruvananthapuram.
India's first bilateral T20I series at home against West Indies since their semi-final loss at the 2016 ICC World T20 will begin on November 4 at Kolkata. That will be followed by Lucknow's first tryst with international cricket on November 6 in Lucknow and the series concludes in Chennai on November 11.
Ekana International Cricket Stadium, which has hosted Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy matches in the past, is yet to host an IPL or an international match. The stadium was supposed to host the third ODI between India and New Zealand last year but the game was moved to Kanpur due to the infrastructure not being up to the mark.
The stadium was scheduled to host a few IPL 2018 games as well, with both Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils expressing an interest in playing at the 50,000 capacity stadium. However, no IPL 2018 games were held at the venue.
The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association will be hoping that it is third time lucky for Ekana International Cricket Stadium as it finally gets set for its first taste of international cricket.