India's first ODI against Sri Lanka moves out of Delhi to Visakhapatnam

India will open their home series against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam after the BCCI moved the first ODI out of Delhi at the host association’s own request

The match on 13 December had been allotted to the Arun Jaitley Stadium. It will now be played at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, leaving the capital without an international fixture on a tour that carries three ODIs and three T20Is.

The board confirmed the switch on 5 November, and framed it as an administrative matter rather than a health one. Its release said the move came at the instance of the state association that was due to stage the game.

Reports of the decision went further, saying the Delhi body had raised the capital’s December air quality alongside unfinished work at the ground.

What the board said

The BCCI’s statement was a single line of explanation. "The venue change has been made following a request from the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA)," it said, without naming pollution.

The reasons attached to the release were potential weather disruption and proposed renovation work at the stadium, where the outfield is being relaid.

Reports of the decision added that the DDCA had told the board it could not host on the scheduled date, and that air quality was the association’s material concern.

The December air quality concern

Air quality in the capital deteriorates through the winter months, and the window the first ODI occupied sits inside the worst of it.

The board’s own wording did not refer to it; the reporting around the decision did. The fixture has been relocated roughly six weeks before it was due to be played.

The renovation is the more straightforward half of the explanation, with the outfield at the Arun Jaitley Stadium undergoing work.

The Test that set the precedent

The last time Delhi hosted Sri Lanka in a winter international, the cricket itself stopped. At the Feroz Shah Kotla in December 2017, Sri Lanka’s players took the field in anti-pollution masks and play was halted for close to 20 minutes.

The first interruption lasted 17 minutes after lunch and ended only when the umpires and match officials persuaded the visitors to resume. Lahiru Gamage later pulled up in his run-up and was attended by a paramedic, and Suranga Lakmal left the field during the 127th over.

Sri Lanka’s coach Nic Pothas said his players were "coming off the field and vomiting," and noted there were few rules governing pollution for the match referee to apply. Virat Kohli declared India’s innings at 536 for 7 soon afterwards.

Sri Lanka’s board asked the BCCI at the time to explain why Delhi had been chosen. The BCCI’s then acting president CK Khanna was quoted as saying: "If 20,000 people in the stands did not have problem and the Indian team did not face any issue, I wonder why Sri Lankan team made a big fuss?"

Several accounts of the venue change referred back to that Test.

Visakhapatnam inherits the opener

The ACA-VDCA ground has staged international cricket since 2005, when it held its first ODI between India and Pakistan on 5 April, and seats about 27,500.

It is Andhra’s principal international venue, and India have posted one of their highest ODI totals there, 387 for 5 against West Indies in 2019.

The BCCI’s fixture listing now carries the match for Sunday 13 December, with a 2pm local start.

What the rest of the tour looks like

The second ODI remains in Bengaluru on 16 December, the same day the IPL has scheduled its 2027 auction in Goa, and the third is in Ahmedabad on 19 December.

Three T20Is follow later in the month, in Rajkot, Cuttack and Pune.

No further venue changes have been announced.

India and Sri Lanka now begin the series in Visakhapatnam on 13 December, with Delhi off the itinerary altogether.