The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur announced the complete itinerary for India tour 2016 of Australia on Thursday.
Team India will fly to Australia on 5 January, 2016, where they will be taking on the World Champions in five One-Day Internationals and three T20s.
MS Dhoni looks all set to return at the helm of the ODI and the T20 side. This series against the might of Australia will definitely be a challenging one for 'Captain Cool' Dhoni as this series will be followed by a short T20 series against Sri Lanka at home and then the Asia Cup T20 in Bangladesh ahead of the ICC World T20 2016, which will be held in India.
That is quite a busy schedule for Team India. These limited over series against Australia, Sri Lanka and the Asia Cup T20 2016 in Bangladesh will be a good platform for all the players to rev up their magnitudes ahead of the ICC World T20 2016, which will be held in March.
Also, the Asia Cup T20 will be the first of its kind. Previously, the tournament followed the 50-over format but all the cricket boards came to an agreement to make it to a T20 one as it will be good for the players who would want to be at their prime during the ICC World T20 2016.
India are also supposed to play their arch-rivals Pakistan later this month. But all hangs in imbalance as the Indian government is yet to give a green signal to the much-awaited series.
"It is their [PCB's] call what is a comfortable time to host the series. We leave for Australia on the 5th of January and after a long series with South Africa it is every important to give the players 4-5 days rest. So Ideally if you have to fly on 5th you be free by 30th (of December)," Thakur told PTI on Thursday.
Complete Schedule of India tour of Australia 2016:
ODIs:
12 January, 1st ODI at WACA, Perth
15 January, 2nd ODI at Gabba, Brisbane
17 January, 3rd ODI at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) at Melbourne
20 January, 4th ODI at Manuka Oval, Canberra
23 January, 5th ODI at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Sydney
T20s:
26 January, 1st T20I at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
29 January, 2nd T20I at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) at Melbourne
January 31, 3rd T20I at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Sydney
