Former Indian captain and Cricket Association of Bengal President Sourav Ganguly has expressed his desire for Test Cricket to be played at venues like Eden Gardens, while also recognizing the importance of expanding the game’s reach.
This comes after the announcement of India’s home schedule for the 2026-27 season, which assigned the five Tests of the 2027 Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia to Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi, and Ahmedabad. This decision has drawn criticism for overlooking major venues such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Bangalore.
Ganguly mentioned his interest in hosting a significant Test match in Kolkata but noted the excitement for the South Africa Test in 2025 and the T20 World Cup matches in 2026.
“It’s always wonderful to have major Test matches back at Eden Gardens. As the CAB president and a former player, I want to host Test matches here, but we have the Test against South Africa, along with T20 World Cup games and IPL fixtures,” Ganguly said in an interview.
He added that he understands the reasoning behind selecting certain venues, which can result in Kolkata not hosting many matches. He appreciates the broader exposure cricket gains from staging games at different venues.
“While it’s great to host matches at Eden, it’s important to allocate games to other venues as well,” he explained.
This cycle, Kolkata will hold just one match, an ODI against Zimbabwe in early January. Guwahati hosted its first Test in 2025, with India losing to South Africa, who clinched the two-match series 2-0 with that win. The first Test of that series took place in Kolkata. In recent years, the BCCI has implemented a ‘rotation’ policy for Test cricket venues.