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In a big update to India's home Test series against Australia, a source privy to the development told Sports Tak that the four-match outing is most likely to kick off from February 15, 2023. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet to finalise the venues for the Test matches as they are having discussions with the operation team on regular basis.
“We are having discussions to finalise the venues and as of now only two venues are fixed which is Delhi and Ahmedabad. But for the two other matches discussions are still on but hopefully in couple of days will fix it. I can tell you that we have discussed majority of venues for the first Test but have not arrived on final decision. Most likely series will commence in February's second week around 15th,” the source told Sports Tak.
Talking about the possibility of Pink Test, source said, “you might not see pink Test happening because at the same time you have women's IPL so it's kind of fight within own stretch. Yesterday also we had discussion on weather to hold the pink Test or not. As of now majority of the officials are not in favour but let's see how things go forward but so far no decision has been made on pink Test.”
In other update, most likely Delhi will be hosting a Test match after more than five years when Pat Cummins' Australia travel to India .
Other centres which are strongly tipped to host the remaining Tests are Ahmedabad, Dharamsala and one among Nagpur or Chennai.
The series will be very important as it will be the last four games for India in the second edition of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. In fact, in order to qualify for the summit clash, India might have to beat Australia 4-0, which could be a Herculean task for Rohit Sharma's men.
The series is traditionally a four-Test affair, but will be contested across five matches during the next ICC Future Tours & Programme (FTP), starting 2024.
As per the BCCI's rotation formula, Delhi, which has missed out during the two years of COVID-19 pandemic, is all set to get one of the Test matches. The city last hosted a Test against Sri Lanka in December, 2017.
"Delhi is likely to host the second of the four Test matches as of now. The dates will be out as and when the Tours and Fixtures committee hold its meeting. Dharamsala, which hosted its first and only Test almost six years back, against Australia in March, 2017, will probably host the third Test," a senior BCCI official said.
It is understood that Australia, in all likelihood, will start the series in either among Nagpur, Chennai or Hyderabad, as Bengaluru had hosted a Test match against Sri Lanka earlier this year. That was a day/night Test.
Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium is expected to host the series finale.
The BCCI has so far hosted three pink-ball Tests -- the inaugural one in the country against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens, one against England at Motera and the last one was against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru.
Post the COVID-19-induced break, the BCCI has hosted eight Test matches with four against England in 2021 (Chennai and Ahmedabad ), two against New Zealand (Kanpur and Mumbai) and two against Sri Lanka (Chandigarh and Bengaluru).
