What’s the Story?
India are about to kickstart yet another intense 12 months of cricket, with matches spread both home and away, unlike how it was in 2016, where the team played a majority of games on home turf.
Also, the team will play a lot more limited-overs games and so fans will be able to see an equal amount of Tests, ODI Cricket and T20 Cricket right through the year.
In case you did not know...
India had a good 2016 across the three formats. In Tests, under Virat Kohli, they looked an assertive, hungry unit and finished the year without a single loss and also on top of the ICC Test Rankings. They first beat the West Indies 2-0 in their backyard before beating New Zealand 3-0 at home and defeating England 4-0, also at home.
In coloured clothing too, under MS Dhoni, they put in fine performances. After getting off a to a poor start in the ODI series against Australia, India beat the same team 3-0 in the T20I series, won the Asia Cup, reached the semifinals of the World T20, Beat Zimbabwe on their home turf and then beat New Zealand at home.
The heart of the matter
The Indian Cricket Team are set for an action-packed 12 months of action, which would see them some of the best teams in the world across all three formats of the game, both home and away.
Apart from the various bilateral series, India will also defend their Champions Trophy, which they so clinically won in 2013, in England and it will be interesting to see if the Men In Blue can win back-to-back titles in the Old Blighty.
Here’s the full schedule for India
India’s full schedule for the year 2017
| Series | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|
| India vs England Limited-Over Series(3 ODIs and 3 T20Is) | ||
| 1st ODI | Pune | 15th January 2017 |
| 2nd ODI | Cuttack | 19th January 2017 |
| 3rd ODI | Kolkata | 22nd January 2017 |
| 1st T20I | Kanpur | January 26th, 2017 |
| 2nd T20I | Nagpur | January 29th, 2017 |
| 3rd T20I | Bengaluru | 1st February 2017 |
| India vs Bangladesh One-Off Test | Hyderabad | February 8th-12th 2017 |
| India vs Australia Border-Gavaskar Trophy(4 Tests) | ||
| 1st Test | Pune | February 23rd-27th 2017 |
| 2nd Test | Bengaluru | March 8th-12th 2017 |
| 3rd Test | Ranchi | March 16th-20th 2017 |
| 4th Test | Dharamshala | March 25th-29th 2017 |
| Indian Premier League | April 5th-May21st 2017(Tentative) | |
| ICC Champions Trophy | June 1st-19th 2017 | |
| India vs Pakistan | Edgbaston | June 4th, 2017 |
| India vs Sri Lanka | The Oval | June 8th, 2017 |
| India vs South Africa | The Oval | June 11th, 2017 |
| West Indies vs India(5 ODIs and 1T20I) | West Indies | July 2017 (Individual Dates and Venues not known yet) |
| Sri Lanka vs India(3 Tests, 5 ODIs and 1 T20I) | Sri Lanka | July 2017-September 2017((Individual Dates and Venues not known yet) |
| India vs Australia(5 ODIs and 1 T20I) | India | October 2017(Individual Dates and Venues not known yet) |
| South Africa vs India(4 Tests, 5 ODIs, 3 T20Is) | South Africa | November 2017-January 2018(Individual Dates and Venues not known yet) |
What next?
India face against England in a continuation of the latter’s tour, post the Christmas break and Dhoni and his team will look to begin their year on a positive note. They have tasted some amount of success against this opposition, having won the last two ODI series both at home and away and will look to make it three in a row later this month.
Sportskeeda’s take
This promises to be an exciting 12 months of action for India and it could also be the year when Dhoni gives up his captaincy in limited-overs and the full-time reigns is given to Kohli. However, before that, Dhoni will look to win his second Champions Trophy title and he would surely be extra eager for the crown, given that in the last three ICC Events, India have finished runners-up once and semifinalists twice.
Also, the schedule provides India with enough Test matches, to keep their top ranking with them and Kohli and his men will know they will need to be on top of their game in order to stay in pole position.
Note: According to the Future Tours Programme (FTP), India are to play 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and 1 T20I against Pakistan away from home in November 2017 as well, but nothing on that is clear yet.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
