Australia announce full series against India

ENDING weeks of speculation, Cricket Australia confirmed that India will make the trip Down Under starting October this year for a financially critical assignment comprising four Tests, ODIs as well as T20 Internationals.

Cricket Australia announced the much-anticipated resumption of the game after the Covid-19 pandemic with a six-month home summer schedule, which will begin with a tour by Zimbabwe for a three-match ODI series from August 9.

India will tour the country for a T20 series, which will begin on October 11 at Brisbane followed by matches on October 14 (Canberra) and October 17 (Adelaide), the CA posted on its official website.

This is to be followed by the T20 World Cup, the likelihood of which going ahead is slim owing to the pandemic. The CA did not even mention the event in its official schedule unveiled on Thursday.

After the T20s, Virat Kohli’s men will return for a four-Test series, beginning on December 3 at Brisbane. India are then scheduled to play a day/night Test, as committed by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, from December 11 to 15 in Adelaide.

The second and fourth Tests will be held in Melbourne (December 26-30) and Sydney (January 3 to 7).

The series is crucial financial health of CA, which has had to stand down staff to handle cost of operations in the wake of the pandemic. According to reports, CA stands to earn up to 300 million Australian dollars from the tour by India.

The ODI series is scheduled to begin with a match on January 12 in Perth and it will be followed by contests on January 15 (Melbourne) and January 17 (Sydney).

‘We are working closely with the BCCI to deliver the eagerly anticipated men’s and women’s tours, and we are looking forward to staging the important series against both the men’s and women’s New Zealand sides,’ Kevin Roberts, Cricket Australia CEO, said in a statement.

Roberts hinted that if circumstances dictate, there could be changes in the schedule which also features series against New Zealand West Indies and a one-off Test against Afghanistan.