MELBOURNE: Australia will kick off their international summer with limited-overs series against India in Sydney and Canberra from Nov 27 before the four-Test series starts in Adelaide as a day-night match on Dec 17, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Wednesday.

A tour worth about A$300 million ($214 million) to Australian cricket will commence with three one-day internationals followed by three Twenty20 Internationals at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and Canberra’s Manuka Oval, CA said in a statement.

India’s squad will arrive in Sydney on Nov 12, subject to authorisation from Australian border authorities, and will undergo a mandatory quarantine in Sydney prior to the first match of the tour.

“Across all three formats, Australia and India represents one of the great rivalries in world sport and we are delighted to welcome Virat Kohli’s outstanding squad to Australian shores this summer,” Nick Hockley, CA interim chief executive, said. “We would also like to especially thank the NSW Government for allowing players from both teams to safely prepare during quarantine.”

Confirmation of the tour will come as a great relief to CA, which has lost tens of millions of dollars due to scheduling disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and is in a legal dispute with one of its major broadcasters.

The pandemic has already scuppered plans to host the West Indies, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, New Zealand and the T20 World Cup this year.

A similar fate for the India tour would have been a financial disaster for CA and Hockley said the organisation spent months working with the Board of Control for Cricket in India to ensure it went ahead.

“I cannot speak more highly of the professional, thorough and collaborative manner with which they have approached this tour in these extraordinary and complex times,” he said.

The series begins with India’s first day-night Test in Australia at the Adelaide Oval on Dec 17, followed by Melbourne before moving to Sydney on Jan 7 with the tour finale at Brisbane’s Gabba on Jan 15.

Neither side has lost a day-night Test previously, with the Australian men’s team winning all four pink-ball Tests in Adelaide against New Zealand, South Africa, England and Pakistan.

India defeated Bangladesh in their only day-night encounter at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens last year.

While some social distancing restrictions remain in Australia despite Covid-19 infections slowing to a trickle, organisers are planning for crowds at all the matches.

CA said it was working with the MCG and the local government on safely hosting spectators for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, with Australia’s second-biggest city released from a hard lockdown on Wednesday.

CA had initially planned for India to quarantine in Queensland and start the tour in the northeastern state.

However, after waiting in vain for weeks for Queensland authorities to endorse their tour proposal, CA switched focus to New South Wales and secured a quick approval from the state.

Meanwhile, Authorities are targeting crowds of at least 25,000 people per day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the second Test.

Melbourne, Australia’s second most populous city, was released from a coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday, with retail and hospitality businesses opening their doors for the first time in months.

Victoria state sports minister Martin Pakula said the government would develop a plan with Cricket Australia and the MCG to allow the famed 100,000-seat stadium to be at one-quarter capacity for the Test.

“We’ve been really clear with Cricket Australia and the MCG that we’ll make final decisions about numbers closer to the day, depending on the epidemiological situation that abides at the time,” he said. “At this stage, [25,000] is what we believe would be the safe and appropriate number per day here at the MCG.”

Schedule

Nov 27: First ODI (Sydney).

Nov 29: Second ODI (Sydney).

Dec 2: Third ODI (Canberra).

Dec 4: First T20 (Canberra).

Dec 6: Second T20 (Sydney).

Dec 8: Third T20 (Sydney).

Dec 17-21: First Test (Adelaide, D/N).

Dec 26-30: Second Test (Melbourne).

Jan 7-11: Third Test (Sydney).

Jan 15-19: Fourth Test (Brisbane).

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020