Test cricket will return Eden Gardens after a two-year gap after BCCI on Sunday named Kolkata and Nagpur as the venues of the two-match India-South Africa Test series scheduled next month.

Kanpur, Jaipur and Ahmedabad would host the one-day internationals, BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement today. The exact dates of the matches would be announced in a day or two, Srinivasan added.

Last time Kolkata hosted a Test was in November-December 2007 when India played Pakistan.

South Africa was initially scheduled to arrive here next month for a five-match one-day series.

However, BCCI realised that playing just two Tests in the next 11 months — both against lowly Bangladesh — would not be enough to retain India’s status as the number one Test team.

The Board then convinced Cricket South Africa to drop two ODIs and squeeze in a couple of Test matches instead.

CSA, which in the past had agreed to host the second edition of the Indian Premier League on a very short notice, eventually agreed to the proposal but asked BCCI to ensure that the team was not made to travel a lot in between matches.

Source : Hindustan Times