As 2019 draws to a close, the Indian sporting calendar is of course dominated by cricket.
Both test series and one day internationals are coming up for the men’s team, while the women’s team are heading towards the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Tournament.
However, there are also important fixtures coming up in the worlds of tennis and badminton that many Indian sports fans will be looking forward to.
Pune Challenger
On November 11, India’s tennis #1, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, will compete in the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger in Pune. He leads a strong party of Indian players that also includes Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan.
Previous tournament winner Yuki Bhambri has been forced to pull out due to injury but hopes to return in time for the ATP 250 Tournament, also to be held in Pune.
Originally scheduled for December, this has now been pushed back to February. Points won at the Challenger will count towards next year’s Australian Open.
Hong Kong Open
India is well represented at this year’s Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open, organised by the World Badminton Federation.
The world’s #9 ranked player, Srikanth Kadambi, heads up a contingent that also includes B Sai Praneeth (#12), Sameer Verma (#17), Kashyap Parupalli (#25), HS Prannoy (#28) and Sourab Verma (#34).
Read More: Sportspersons Should Be Supported Before They Win Anything, Felicitations Afterward Are Worth Very Less
Women’s T201 Series
In cricket, the Indian women’s team goes up against the West Indies in the T201 series at Gros Islet on November 10. They meet again at Providence on November 20.
Looking ahead to the Australia Tri-Nation Women’s T20 Series, on February 2 India plays Australia at Canberra, and on the 8th they face England in Melbourne. The series final takes place in Melbourne on February 12.
Then it’s straight into the qualifiers for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, with India facing Bangladesh in Group A on February 24, and meeting Sri Lanka in Melbourne on the 29th.
A full season
There’s a full season of men’s cricket over the coming months, and it’s best to check online to find the next cricket matches in India. India play Bangladesh in Indore in the ICC World Test Championship on November 14-18, and then in Kolkata on November 22-26.
In December, India will face the West Indies in Mumbai (6), Thiruvananthapuram (8) and Hyderabad (11). Then the two teams meet in a series of one day internationals at Chennai (15), Visakhapatnam (18) and Cuttack (22).
In January, India is to play Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand, playing against the latter through February as well. There’s certainly no let up for the team and none for the fans either.
Whether you hope to travel to watch these matches in person, or whether you’ll be following them from afar, the next few months as we go from 2019 into 2020 promise to be exciting ones for all Indian sports fans, and for cricket enthusiasts in particular.
Win or lose, we’ll be supporting our teams and players across all of these events in the weeks and months to come.
Image Credits: Google Images
Other Recommendations:
What Was The Reason Behind Choosing Mary Kom, Sara Ali Khan & Anjali Lama As Protagonists For Puma’s New Campaign?
