Test cricket is all set to return to Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Lucknow for the first time since 1994 when India will be hosting New Zealand later this year. The stadium is also known as Ekana Cricket Stadium, which was later renamed after Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Lucknow hosted a Test match against Sri Lanka at KDS Babu Stadium in January 1994 which remains the only five-day international match here till now. However, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) has been hosting first-class cricket in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium since 2016 after its renewal.

Well now, it is being said that the BCCI has finalized Lucknow’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium as one of the venues for the two-match Test series against New Zealand in November 2021. The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is the other venue for the Test series.

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A senior BCCI official told Times of India: “The stadium has good facilities and a capacity of nearly 70,000. That’s a good deal for any IPL franchise. Like Ahmedabad, it’s important to give Lucknow exposure to marquee international matches before the IPL teams are finalized. Lucknow was also shortlisted as a venue for the T20 World Cup had it happened in India.”

Noteworthy, the Test series will be followed by the three-match T20I series, which is likely to begin in the last week of November between India and New Zealand.

India will be also hosting Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series and three T20Is in February-March after they return from the full tour of South Africa in late January.

(With TOI Inputs)