Kohli averages 108 in Visakhapatnam, and India’s first ODI against Sri Lanka has moved there from Delhi

The first ODI between India and Sri Lanka on Sunday, 13 December, will not be played in Delhi after all. The BCCI announced on Thursday that the game has moved to the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam, after a request from the Delhi and District Cricket Association.

The board gave two reasons: “the potential weather disruption and the proposed renovation work” at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The date stays the same, and so does the rest of the series.

Under a month after the board said no

The move is a little awkward for the BCCI. On 12 October, after reports that the game was going to Ahmedabad, secretary Devajit Saikia said there had been “no such decision” and that bilateral matches are allotted under a standard policy. He was right about Ahmedabad. Delhi has lost the game anyway.

The weather part needs no explaining to Sri Lanka. When they played a Test in Delhi in December 2017, most of their fielders came out after lunch on the second day wearing anti-pollution masks, play was stopped twice, and their coach Nic Pothas said one player came off the field vomiting.

Delhi has not hosted an India ODI since the 2023 World Cup game against Afghanistan, and it will now wait a while longer.

Visakhapatnam suits India

India have won eight of their 11 completed ODIs in Visakhapatnam, with two defeats and a tie. They are two from two there against Sri Lanka. The more recent of those came on 17 December 2017, two weeks after that smog Test, when Shikhar Dhawan made an unbeaten 100 in an eight-wicket win that sealed the series 2-1.

Their last ODI at the ground was on 6 December 2025, a nine-wicket win over South Africa. Before that, the 2023 visit went badly: Australia bowled India out for 117 and knocked off the runs without losing a wicket.

Then there is Virat Kohli. He has 652 runs in eight ODI innings in Visakhapatnam at an average of 108.66, with three hundreds, the highest of them an unbeaten 157 against West Indies in 2018. In that win over South Africa in December 2025 he was 65 not out off 45 balls. His form is fine too, after 74 in India’s win in the first ODI in Auckland this week, and if he is picked for this series, it is hard to think of a better ground for him to start it on.

The rest of the series

After Visakhapatnam, the teams play the second ODI in Bengaluru on 16 December and the third in Ahmedabad on 19 December. Three T20Is follow, in Rajkot on 22 December, Cuttack on 24 December and Pune on 27 December.

Before any of that, India have the rest of their tour of New Zealand to finish: the five-match ODI series and then two Tests.

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