The month of December will see the rivalry between India and Australia resume with the Indian team touring down under for a full-length tour. Both teams will play four Test matches along with ODIs and T20Is as well, with the first one being a day-night Test in Adelaide.
Meanwhile, this will be second day-night Test match for No.1 Test team after they played their first against Bangladesh in Kolkata last year. The tour of Australia will be their first cricketing assignment post the pandemic.
The first of the four Tests will be played in Adelaide from December 17 to 21. Melbourne will host the Boxing Day Test from December 26-30. Sydney will host the third (January 7-11) and Brisbane (January 15-19)the fourth and final Test match.
Generally, Kohli & Co will start off their tour by playing their first Test at the Gabba, whenever they tour down under, however, this time there is a change owing to the COVID-19 protocols in the city of Brisbane.
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Mandatory Quarantine Before India’s Tour of Australia
The Indian contingent of players will travel to Australia after the IPL final on November 10. Meanwhile, Cricket Australia has zeroed in on November 25-30 period for the ODIs and December 4-8 for the T20Is. India will then play a warm-up game in the pink-ball before their first Test match.
India’s test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari along with the support staff will be undergoing a mandatory quarantine period of six-days in Dubai before departing for the tour down under.
The support staff also includes coach Ravi Shastri, batting coach Vikram Rathour among others. India will send a 23 to 25 member squad for the entire series keeping in mind the quarantine protocols in the wake of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, due to the reluctance of Western Australia and South Australia to ease the quarantine protocols for the two teams to start the series early, Cricket Australia decided to change the venue for the first Test from Brisbane to Adelaide.
Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to win a test series in Australia when the team went down under in 2019-20.
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