India A to play three T20s in Kirtipur in December 2026 after CAN confirms December fixtures

Nepal’s cricket board will host India A in December for the country’s first senior men’s bilateral against an Indian side at home since the 2023 ACC Men’s Premier Cup, after the Cricket Association of Nepal confirmed the dates on Friday, 10 July 2026. The three-match T20 series will be played entirely at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, with the first T20 on 9 December, the second on 11 December and the third on 13 December.

Confirmation came the same day the ICC Annual Conference opened in Edinburgh. CAN President Chatur Bahadur Chand and CAN Secretary Paras Khadka met BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia at the conference and signed off on the itinerary in the margins of the governing body’s annual gathering, according to a CAN statement issued from Kathmandu.

Why Kirtipur, why all three in one ground

Kirtipur has been Nepal’s de facto home venue for bilateral series against Full Member opposition since the stadium’s reconstruction in 2018. The decision to keep all three matches at TU rather than split the series across grounds reflects two things: the familiarity of the Indian dressing room with the venue’s drop-in lengths and short straight boundaries, and the limited broadcast footprint a touring Indian side would draw outside the Kathmandu valley in mid-December.

CAN’s statement made no mention of warm-up fixtures or a reserve day. December in the Kathmandu valley typically brings clear mornings and an early sunset around 17:20 local time, which means the third T20 is likely to be a day game with a 13:30 start rather than a floodlit evening fixture.

Where the squad is likely to come from

The BCCI does not name an India A head coach in the same press release as the tour — that is typically filtered through a separate selection committee meeting closer to the tour window — but the brief from the CAN–BCCI meeting in Edinburgh suggests the squad will be drawn from the same pool of cricketers who would otherwise be on the bench for India’s senior T20I schedule. In practice that means IPL regulars who are not currently in the senior T20I XI, and a handful of players the senior selectors want a closer look at before the 2027 ICC event cycle.

Two factors set this tour apart from a routine India A assignment. First, Nepal is a Full Member pathway opponent and the series falls inside the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 calendar, which means the fixtures will count against Nepal’s qualification ledger for the 2027 World Cup. Second, the proximity of the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, where Nepal trained ahead of last year’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers, gives the Indian management a venue they already understand the team’s preferences against.

What it means for Nepal’s qualification maths

Nepal are mid-table in the League 2 cycle, with the next qualification window closing in mid-2027. A three-match T20 series against an India A side is not the same as a series against the senior Indian team, but the ICC’s qualification weighting treats any bilateral T20I against a Full Member or its A side as a full-value fixture for League 2 standings. That gives Nepal three fixtures it can win — or, more relevantly for the standings, three fixtures where the net run rate moves materially depending on the margin.

Sandwiched around the India A tour, Nepal also has ACC Premier Cup fixtures and a confirmed away tri-series in the UAE in the same December window. The CAN statement did not address how those commitments would be reconciled, but the most likely reading is that the India A fixtures sit as the senior men’s squad’s priority and the Premier Cup side fields a development XI.

How India A is likely to set up

For India, the immediate value of the assignment is to give a settled block of bench players three consecutive T20s in conditions that more closely resemble subcontinental league cricket than the away tours A sides usually get. Kirtipur’s short straight boundary and slow lower layer is the kind of surface that exposes hitters who can only operate on flat decks. Expect at least two changes from the last India A T20I XI, with at least one slot reserved for a player who has just completed a strong IPL season but has not yet broken into the senior T20I side.

The bowling group is harder to read this early. India’s senior T20I seam attack is currently settled, which leaves the A side looking at allrounders and a wrist-spin option as the most likely bowlers to get a run-out. Nepal’s batting line-up, which has historically struggled against left-arm wrist-spin in the middle overs, will be a useful test for whichever wrist-spinner travels.

What CAN said, and what it left out

CAN’s statement was short on operational detail. It confirmed the three dates, the venue, and the source of the final sign-off (the Edinburgh meeting) but did not announce ticketing, broadcast, or squad naming timelines. A CAN spokesperson told reporters on Friday that squad announcements would come from the BCCI in the usual India A window — typically four to six weeks before the first fixture — and that ticketing information would follow once broadcast and hospitality partners were confirmed.

For an Indian tour, that timeline is normal. The omission that stood out to reporters in Kathmandu was the absence of any reference to a fourth fixture, either a 50-over warm-up or an additional T20. CAN did not rule one out, and a one-day warm-up at Kirtipur on 7 December remains plausible if both boards agree in the next month.

How the schedule sits in the wider December window

The series lands in a busy stretch of the associate cricket calendar. UAE are scheduled to host a tri-series in the same fortnight, with Oman and the USA as the other two teams, and the ACC Premier Cup group stage has confirmed fixtures in the days either side of the India A window. CAN’s home schedule for December 2026 now reads: India A T20s on 9, 11 and 13 December, sandwiched between two rest days, with the Premier Cup fixtures routed through Mulpani and the Tribhuvan University Oval rather than Kirtipur itself.

For the BCCI, the timing avoids the senior men’s T20I window, which is reserved for the India versus England series that closes the calendar. That gives the India A management a free run at squad selection without having to negotiate release windows with IPL franchises.

What to watch in the build-up

• Whether the BCCI names a senior selector or an India A regular as the head coach for the three matches.
• Whether CAN adds a 50-over warm-up to the schedule to give both sides a chance to test the longer format on the same surface.
• Whether the broadcast partner for India’s home season is also confirmed for the away fixtures, given that the Kirtipur broadcast position is limited.
• How Nepal’s senior batting group rotates around the series, given the ACC Premier Cup fixtures immediately before and after.

Why the Edinburgh timing mattered

The ICC Annual Conference gathers the heads of the Full Members each July, and bilateral sign-offs are routinely tabled in the margins. The CAN–BCCI meeting in Edinburgh was brief — fewer than thirty minutes, according to a CAN source who spoke to reporters on Friday afternoon — but it was the moment the December itinerary moved from a verbal commitment to a confirmed schedule. Without the Edinburgh window, the series would most likely have been pushed into the January–February 2027 slot, when Nepal’s League 2 fixtures are heavier and India A has no clean run without disrupting the IPL auction calendar.

FAQ

When does the India A tour of Nepal start?

The first T20 is scheduled for Tuesday, 9 December 2026, with the second on Thursday, 11 December and the third on Sunday, 13 December. All three matches are day fixtures at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, Kathmandu.

Where will the matches be played?

All three T20 internationals will be played at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. CAN did not announce any reserve day or alternate venue, which means a rain-affected fixture would most likely be retried the following day rather than relocated.

Who is in the India A squad?

The squad has not been named. The BCCI typically announces India A squads four to six weeks before the first fixture, and the CAN statement on 10 July 2026 confirmed only that the touring party will be drawn from top IPL performers and fringe members of India’s senior T20I squad.

Why does this tour matter for Nepal’s World Cup qualification?

The three T20s count as full-value fixtures in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 cycle, which feeds into the 2027 World Cup qualification pathway. Wins and net run rate against an India A side move Nepal’s standing on the table, and a strong showing in December would also give the team a benchmark against an Indian bowling attack before the senior tours in early 2027.

For the rest of the build-up to the December window, the latest from the newsroom is updated as BCCI and CAN release squad and broadcast notes.