India host Australia and New Zealand from Sept 17 to Nov 7
A total of eight ODIs and six T20Is are to be played over the course of a little under two months
ESPNcricinfo staff
07-Sep-2017
Amit Mishra celebrates after knocking James Neesham's middle stump • Associated Press
A confirmation of India's home season fixtures arrived on Thursday with the BCCI releasing the schedule for eight ODIs and six T20Is to be played against Australia and New Zealand starting September 17.
As reported earlier on ESPNcricinfo, India will take on Australia in the season opener in another ten days in Chennai before moving on to Kolkata (September 21), Indore (September 24), Bengaluru (September 28) and Nagpur (October 1) for the remainder of the ODIs. Ranchi (October 7), Guwahati (October 10) and Hyderabad (October 13) have been lined up to host the T20I series. The visitors will have a warm-up game ahead of the series on September 12.
New Zealand too will have the chance to acclimatise themselves with Indian conditions with two practice matches at the CCI stadium in Mumbai before the first ODI in the same city on October 22. The second ODI is scheduled in Pune on October 25 and the third and final 50-over game will be held in Kanpur on October 29. Then both teams will shift their focus to the shortest format with three T20Is to be played in Delhi (November 1), Rajkot (November 4) and Thiruvananthapuram (November 7).
Both teams had visited India during the 2016-17 season as well, Australia for Tests, which they lost 2-1 and New Zealand for Tests and ODIs, although they too were beaten in each series.
India had introduced three new Test venues last season - Rajkot, Indore and Visakhapatnam. This time they have got clearance to host international matches at Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram. It is understood there were delays in securing these clearances, which perhaps played a part in the BCCI announcing the official schedule less than two weeks before the opening match of the season.