Putting an end to speculation whether Delhi would be ready to host a Test this winter, the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Sunday excluded the capital's Ferozeshah Kotla stadium while announcing six venues for the upcoming Test series against Australia and South Africa.

Kanpur, Nagpur, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai were chosen to host a Test match each in the two home series -- four Tests against Australia and two against South Africa -- later this year, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters after the first day of the Working Committee meeting in Delhi.

"Delhi said that it could not host a Test match. So we have decided on these six venues besides a couple of standbys in case there is any casualty," Dalmiya said.

Dalmiya, who said the dates for the matches would be announced after the second day of the meeting on Monday, also did not elaborate on the allotment of matches.

"Allotment of Test matches would be decided at a later date taking into account various factors, including the monsoon," he said.

He also said Hyderabad and Jaipur would be the venues for the warm-up matches -- one each against Australia and South Africa.

Australia will play four Test matches during their tour, from September 30 to November 7, while the South Africans are scheduled to play two Tests in November.

Dalmiya spoke about some important decisions taken on the first day of the meeting, which included increasing the pension for some former Test cricketers and umpires.

"The major decision taken today was that under the Platinum Pension Scheme, the Test players and umpires who retired prior to 1976 would be getting Rs 10,000 per month instead of Rs 5,000. But those who retired after 1976, would continue to get Rs 5,000," he said.

He also announced some changes in the format of the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy, which would now be played on the lines of the Ranji Trophy.

"The Elite and Plate format in the Ranji Trophy is extremely successful. Now the same will be applied to the under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy from this year.

"It was decided that two teams instead of existing one team would now qualify for the knock-out stage of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament.

"It was further decided that the proposal to do away with the toss before the start of matches would not be implemented now and there would be a financial penalty for pitch doctoring."

Dalmiya gave details about the programmes to mark 75 years of Indian cricket, which included staging a one-off one-dayer against Pakistan.

"The date for the match against Pakistan has not been finalised. We would be deciding on the venue and date in a few days time," Dalmiya said, adding that the game has been named as "Platinum Jubilee Match."