CHENNAI: Cricket Australia's (CA) announcement of the full itinerary of a tour by India later this year is not a confirmation of the dates and venues. It will depend on the COVID-19 situation and the boards of India and Australia will have discussions regarding the logistics and number of venues before finalising the itinerary. What CA released may not be final.
A statement from CA on Thursday said there will be three T20Is between October 11 and 17. The four-match Test series starts on December 3, followed by three ODIs from January 12. This has obviously been planned keeping in mind the T20 World Cup scheduled to begin later in October. With the ICC Board putting on hold a decision on the T20 World Cup taking place this year, dates of the T20 leg of India's tour of Australia hang in the balance.
"The itinerary released today follows the eight-year FTP drawn earlier. It had already been planned. If the ICC doesn't want to hold the T20 World Cup this year, what will be the point in going to Australia in October, coming back and going again," said BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal, adding that adjustments may have to made depending on the situation.
"This is what they have planned. Being the host country, they have to finalise this so that broadcasters and others can also make their plans. But the series is four-five months away. We have a tour of Sri Lanka also (in July), according to the FTP. If it is safe for players to travel, we will have these series. Nothing has been cancelled as of now."
Even though CA has named Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney as the four Test venues with Melbourne marked for the Boxing Day Test, this is subject to the situation permitting matches in multiple venues. Earlier, the boards had spoken about the possibility of having all the matches in one or two places.
"This will depend on the guidelines put in place by local authorities. The boards will have discussions based on those. If circumstances demand that we play in one venue, we have to do that. If it is safe to travel to all the places and play in different venues, we will do accordingly," said Dhumal.
India in Australia (schedule subject to change)
Men
T20Is: Oct 11 Brisbane. Oct 14 Canberra. 17 Adelaide.
Tests: Dec 3-7 Brisbane. Dec 11-15: Adelaide. Dec 26-30 Melbourne. Jan 3-7 Sydney.
ODIs: Jan 12 Perth. Jan 15 Melbourne. Jan 17 Sydney.
Women
ODIs: Jan 22 Canberra. Jan 25 Melbourne (Junction Oval). Jan 28 Hobart (Blundstone Arena).