Former Indian captain and Cricket Association of Bengal President Sourav Ganguly has stated that while he wants Test Cricket to be played at venues like the Eden Gardens, he understands the need to broaden the horizons of the game. 

This statement comes after India’s home schedule was announced for the 2026-27 season, with the five 2027 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests against Australia assigned to Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi, and Ahmedabad. This raised a lot of criticism as prominent venues like Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore were ignored.

Ganguly stated that he would love to organise a big Test match in Kolkata, but is happy with the South Africa Test in 2025 and T20 World Cup games in 2026. 

“It’s always great to have big Test matches back at Eden Gardens. As the president of the CAB and being a former player, I would like to host Test matches here, but we got the Test against South Africa, then there were T20 World Cup games and the Indian Premier League fixtures,” Ganguly told Sportstar.

Ganguly further added that he understands why these venues are chosen, which leads to situations where venues like Kolkata might not get a game.

He said that he understands the greater exposure given to cricket when games are organised outside the common venues.

“As much as you would like to host matches at the Eden, it is important to understand that it has to go to other venues as well,” he added.

Kolkata, in this cycle of fixtures, is set to host just one game, an ODI against Zimbabwe in early January. Guwahati hosted its maiden Test in 2025, where India lost to an inspired South Africa, who sealed the two-match series 2-0 with that victory.

The first Test of that series was held in Kolkata. Over the past few years, the BCCI has followed a ‘rotation’ policy for deciding venues in Test cricket.