Cricket Australia [CA] recently announced the venues of the all-important four-match Test series between Australia and India later this year. The series is set to kick-off at the Gabba in Brisbane from December 03 followed by Day-Night Test at the Adelaide Oval from December 11 and the traditional Boxing Day and New Year Test at Melbourne and Sydney Cricket Ground, starting December 26 and January 03, 2021, respectively.
Earlier there were reports that India may play all the four Tests at a single venue and behind closed doors due to the proliferation of the global pandemic that is the coronavirus. But with the COVID-19 situation steadily improving Down Under, CA has reverted to its normal scheduling.
However, Cricket Australia chief Kevin Roberts has reckoned that the board is open to the possibility of hosting all four Tests of the Australia-India series at one or two venues if the situation around the COVID-19 pandemic demands them to do so.
“That (schedule) assumes that state borders are open to domestic travel. It may be that circumstances dictate that when the time comes maybe we can only use one or two venues, we really don’t know any of that yet,” CA chief executive Kevin Roberts told reporters on Friday.
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Cricket Australia chief Kevin Roberts explains the reason behind Perth missing out from hosting Australia-India Test
Ever since Cricket Australia released its schedule for the Australia-India Test series, the administration at Perth has been hugely upset and disappointed in missing out on the opportunity of hosting a Test of the high-profile series.
Explaining the rationale behind the decision, Kevin Roberts said that Perth has hosted three high-profile Tests [2 England Tests and 1 India Test] as compared to the Gabba that has only hosted two in the eight-year-cycle.
“If Perth received the India Test (this year), it would mean that Perth would have hosted two England Tests and two India Tests over the eight-year cycle for a total of four … whereas Brisbane would have only hosted two,” Roberts told reporters as quoted by The West Australian.
During India’s 2018-19 tour of Australia, Brisbane didn’t host a single Test while the newly-built Perth stadium hosted the second Test which the home side won by 146 runs.