India not to Alter Tour Itinerary

India will not alter the schedule of England's cricket tour later this year despite protests from the visitors about being made to play in smaller venues, an official said on Tuesday.

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Monday it was upset that India's regular Test venues like Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Mohali were not given matches during the six-week tour.

India want the two Tests in December to be played in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, while the seven preceding One-dayers were spread across various centres like Rajkot, Guwahati, Cuttack and Jamshedpur.

"We would like to remind the ECB that our venues are always decided on the basis of a rotation policy," Indian cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah was quoted as saying on the cricketnirvana.com website .

"The itinerary for the England tour has been finalised on the basis of this rotation policy."

The website, which belongs to the official broadcaster of the series, Nimbus Communications, reported that Shah was unhappy that the ECB had made its protest public.

"We do not quite understand how and why the ECB has chosen to air its grievances over this policy in the media," said Shah.

"Whenever the Indian team has toured England, some of the venues have not been up to the mark in terms of facilities for Indian players and supporters.

"However, we have complied and gone ahead and played, for it is the host board's prerogative to fix the itinerary."

An ECB statement issued on Monday said: "ECB are disappointed that, despite their representations, the itinerary doesn't offer the thousands of supporters who follow the England team abroad the opportunity to experience more of the great cricket grounds of India.

"As far as the ECB are concerned, the acceptance of the itinerary remains subject to acceptable logistical arrangements and an an acceptable security environment and security arrangements being in place at each of the venues."

England's tour, which runs from November 6-December 23, includes two Tests, seven one-Day Internationals and three warm-up matches.