The itinerary of the New Zealand tour of India in 2009 has been altered and now the teams would play a second Twenty20 International as well as a third Test match. These two games have been added while the tour match has been revoked. The final schedule is that there would be no practice matches for India, but 2 Twenty20 Internationals, 5 One day Internationals and 3 Test matches. In the initial schedule, there was a warm up match at Lincoln against New Zealand XI between the One day Internationals and the Tests. This has been cancelled.
The schedule
On 20th February 2009, India would arrive in New Zealand. On 25th February, the first Twenty20 International would be played at Christchurch. The second Twenty20 International is planned on 27th February at Wellington. Then, there would be five One day Internationals on 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th and 14th March at Napier, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton and Auckland respectively. The first Test match is to be played at Hamilton from 18th to 22nd March. From 26th to 30th March, the second Test would be played at Napier. The venue for the third Test is Wellington and this match is planned from 3rd to 7th April.
N Srinivasan, the secretary of Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), remarked that “My thanks go to New Zealand Cricket for responding positively to our request for an extended Test series. There have been a number of issues for both boards to resolve to accommodate the new schedule and I am pleased we have been able to work together to achieve a high quality program. To have such a strong mix of Tests, one day Internationals and Twenty20s will be good for both teams and for cricket followers in India and New Zealand.”