Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium will be hosting the farewell Test for Sachin Tendulkar after the legendary batsman expressed a wish to play his landmark 200th match against the West Indies next month in front of his home crowd. The BCCI’s Programmes and Fixtures committee, headed by Rajiv Shukla, met to chalk out the detailed schedule of the hastily-arranged series comprising two Tests and three one-dayers. Shukla said that the committee decided to grant Tendulkar’s wish to play his last Test at the venue where he made his debut in first class cricket — the Wankhede Stadium. The Eden Gardens in Kolkata will host the opening clash of the series from November 6 to 10 and like Wankhede, gets an ‘out-of-turn’ Test match as according to the BCCI’s rotational policy; it was actually Bangalore and Ahmedabad’s turn.
The second Test is scheduled from November 14-18. The Caribbean side wills also play three ODIs slated for November 21, 24 and 27. The venues for the first two One-day Internationals will be Kochi and Visakhapatnam, respectively, while the third ODI is yet to be decided. According to Shukla, the final One-dayer could go too held in either Kanpur or Baroda.The BCCI is also planning a grand farewell for Tendulkar. The Board had squeezed in the home series against the West Indies to give Tendulkar an opportunity to retire in front of his home fans. Tendulkar last week announced his decision to retire from Test cricket after playing his landmark match, bringing an end to the intense speculation about his future.
Bureau Report
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