Cricket Times

CRICKET AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCED THE DATES FOR INDIA TOUR

·    India to tour down under for a full-fledged tour

Cricket Australia on Thursday [May 28^th 2020] announced the dates for the six-month home cricket summer. Cricket has been on standstill due Covid-19 pandemic but various cricket boards are putting their everything to get the players back on field, Cricket Australia has done the same as the Covid-19 has been successfully contained in Australia. The six-month home summer includes the most anticipated series of India.

Earlier, their was doubts on the conduction of the India series, various scenarios were discussed to somehow conduct the series during the pandemic as it was to bring almost 300 million Australian dollars.

As, the Covid-19 spread has brought down wonderfully by Australia by imposing lockdown and then travel restrictions. This has made it possible to resume cricket in near future. India series is the talk of the town and official confirmation about the tour was given by Cricket Australia.

India to play a full-fledged tour down under. The dates for the tour are as follows:

1.    T20I series

1^st T20I – October 11 2020[Brisbane}

2^nd T20I - October 14 2020[Canberra]

3^rd T20I – October 17 2020[Adelaide]

2.    Test series

1^st Test – December 3-7 2020 [Brisbane]

2^nd Test [Day-Night] – December 11-15 2020[Adelaide]

3^rd Test – December 26-30 2020[Melbourne]

4^th Test – December 3-7 2020[Sydney]

3.    ODI series

1^st ODI – January 12 2021 [Perth]

2^nd ODI – January 15 2021 [Melbourne]

3^rd ODI – January 17 2021 [Sydney]

Initially, the tour was under scrutiny and playing all four tests at the same venue behind closed-doors was discussed as they were unsure about the Covid situation, but now everything [covid related] is under control down and they have decided to go on as a normal tour instead earlier discussed.

Still, T20I series is under scrutiny as there are reports suggesting that T20 World Cup which is scheduled to play in October-November is likely to be pushed ahead, not sure the period of delay, official confirmation on it would be after the ICC meeting on 28^th May 2020 via video conferencing. If it’s pushed ahead BCCI is planning to use that vacant window for the conduction on IPL, which would mean that T20I series could not be played. The tentative dates for IPL are September 25- November 01.

Last time India toured down under was back in 2018 for a full-fledged tour and India were victorious in all the three formats. The test series win in Australia was the first series win by an Asian side down under ever. It was a memorable tour for the Indians although David Warner and Steve Smith were missing but the effort by the Indian batsman and bowlers was tremendous.