Kolkata: Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, the BCCI is likely to make changes in the schedule of the upcoming India vs West Indies ODI and T-20 series. All the matches of these two series may be organised in only two venues instead of six.
The Indian team is currently touring South Africa, playing the ODI series after the test series. After returning back, the Men in Blue are scheduled to play three ODIs followed by three T-20s with the West Indies team.
The BCCI Tours and Fixture committee had a virtual meeting on Wednesday evening. All the four members of the committee along with the BCCI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hemang Amin attended the meeting. Later, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah joined the virtual meeting.
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A reliable source from BCCI has confirmed to ABP that it was discussed on organising the entire series in only two venues that would reduce the chances of contamination and would aid the BCCI to successfully arrange the series within a secure bio-bubble.
An official close to the developments, on condition of anonymity, said, "In the current Covid situation, it will be difficult to host all the six matches in six different venues, as was scheduled earlier. Health and well being of the players and match officials is our priority and we will not risk anyone to get exposed to Covid. Hence we plan to host all the matches in only two venues."
ABP Live Bengali has learnt that Ahmedabad and Kolkata are the frontrunners to host all the six matches. It is likely that one venue hosts the ODI series and the other venue hosts the T-20 series.
It has also been learnt that the third ODI match might be rescheduled on February 13 in place of February 12. The first match of the T-20 series, which was scheduled to be organised on February 15, might be rescheduled to February 16. The BCCI is likely to make an official announcement in a few days.