Virat Kohli’s Team India Set To Kick-Off Australia Cricket Tour In Sydney — Read Details

Indian cricket team reportedly will kick-off their upcoming Australia tour from Sydney after Cricket Australia (CA) received a green signal from the New South Wales (NSW) government Thursday.

The Australian cricket body was given approval only 72 hours after they lodged their proposition, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

India’s 70-day tour Down Under will begin with Sydney hosting four of the six limited-overs matches, starting Nov. 27. The other two matches are scheduled to be held in Canberra. Initially, the tour was planned to kick-off in Brisbane. But the Queensland government refused to let the away players train during a 14-day quarantine that is mandatory in the state and that was a major obstruction.

Although there was no official confirmation yet from CA, the Sydney Herald report stated that SCG will have ‘packed houses’ as per its reduced 23,000 capacity under Covid-19 restrictions. The Women’s Big Bash League starting Sunday will be played fully in a Sydney hub.

Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly confirmed that the limited-overs series will be followed by red-ball cricket, with the Test series starting at the Adelaide Oval, which will be Virat Kohli-led India’s maiden pink-ball Test overseas.

However, the final talks are still underway between the two cricket boards, before the itinerary is released. As of now, the Adelaide day-night Test will start on Dec. 17. The iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will host the traditional Boxing Day Test (starts Dec. 26) with Adelaide as a back-up venue. Sydney will host the New Year’s Test from Jan. 7 and Brisbane will hold the final Test from Jan. 15.

Once the schedule is released, India’s national selection committee will hold a meeting and decide the final squad, across formats. Most of the players that regularly feature for Team India are currently playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in the UAE. Test players that are not a part of IPL 2020 like Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari, along with the support staff will fly to the UAE ahead of the Indian squad’s departure for Australia after the IPL final slated for Nov.10.