Mohali could get England Test

The Indian board has switched the location of two one-dayers for England's tour early next year to prominent venues at the request of the England board. Interestingly, England may also play their first Test at Mohali, rather than Ahmedabad, as is currently scheduled.

This is the fallout of the application of the Indian board's rotation policy for allotting venues. Sri Lanka, who tour India before England, are scheduled to play their Tests at Chennai, Delhi and Kanpur.

However, with the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association, which hosts matches at Kanpur and the municipal authorities who actually own the Green Park ground involved in a dispute, the third tie has been moved out of Kanpur.

Under the rotation policy, the third Sri Lanka Test will now have to go to Ahmedabad. This in turn means England will play their first Test at Mohali and not Ahmedabad. This could also mean that Jamshedpur hosts an ODI.

The England board had expressed concerns over logistics for their team, and fans, during the tour after the BCCI in October named smaller venues for all seven one-dayers. The indian board has switched games to New Delhi and Mohali from the eastern cities of Cuttack and Visakhapatnam.

Indore, Goa, Guwahati and Kochi will be retained while the other game, originally scheduled for Faridabad, may be moved within the northern state of Haryana, Shashank Manohar, a BCCI vice-president, said after the Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee, which he heads, met in Mumbai.

England's warm-up games have also been moved to Mumbai and Baroda from Jamshedpur and the remote northeastern city of Agartala. The Indian board's decision-making working committee meets on Sunday to ratify the decisions. It is also expected to finalise the itinerary for the Pakistan Test tour starting next month.