Xtra Time Web Desk: Delhi will be hosting a Test match after more than five years when Pat Cummins’ Australia travel to India for the high-profile Border-Gavaskar four-match series in February-March next year. Three other centres which are strongly tipped to host the remaining Tests are Ahmedabad, Dharamsala and Nagpur. Chennai is also in the fray to host a test.
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.
It is understood that Australia, in all likelihood, will start the series in Chennai or Nagpur. Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium is expected to host the fourth and final test. The second and third tests are likely to be staged in Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi and HPCA stadium in Dharamsala.
A decision is yet to taken on which of the four Tests will be a day/night affair.
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.
With Inputs from PTI