The Board of Control for Cricket in India is planning to advance India's cricket tour of Sri Lanka by at least a week.
India, who will play Sri Lanka in a three-Test series in August, is set to play Zimbabwe in a three ODI and two T20 series and the final match of the tour will be on July 19.
"We are working out the modalities and the programme will be out in 2-3 days. We are keen that the Indian team returns from Lanka by September 2 or so, so that they have a complete break of one month before the home series against South Africa in October-November," a BCCI source said.
"At present the tour is due to start around August 11 but we want it to be advanced by a week as the team would have returned from Zimbabwe by July 20," the source added.
September, however, could see the alternative tournament to the T20 Champions League taking place but no details have emerged thus far on this front from the BCCI.
The Test series will be India's first in Sri Lanka after five years. The teams drew the previous series 1-1 when they last played in the Emerald Isle in August 2010.
After returning from Lanka, India await South Africa for a full series of Tests, ODIs and T20 Internationals.
South Africa will play four Test matches (Ahmedabad, Delhi, Nagpur and Bengaluru), five One-Day Internationals (Chennai, Kanpur, MP, Rajkot and Mumbai) and three T20 Internationals (Kolkata, Mohali, Dharamshala).
But there seems to be problems with one of the Test venues for South Africa series.
Quoting a top official of the Gujarat Cricket Association, reports have emerged that Ahmedabad's Motera Stadium will not be available to host the Test match as it is to be revamped totally.
But the BCCI source said nothing on these lines has been communicated to the Board by the GCA so far.
The series against South Africa will be followed by a three-game T20 International series against Sri Lanka in February, 2016. It is scheduled to be played at Vishakapatnam, Pune and Delhi, as
a precursor to the World T20 Championships, to be hosted by India, immediately afterwards.
Photograph: Reuters
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