Here's the schedule for India's home Tests against Australia

Tags: India, Australia

Published on: Oct 22, 2016

The schedule for India's four-Test series against Australia at home, early next year has been released. As per the schedule, Australia will play four Tests in India, with the first one beginning in Pune on February.

The schedule for India's four-Test series against Australia at home, early next year has been released. As per the schedule, Australia will play four Tests in India, with the first one beginning in Pune on February. The first Test in Pune will be head from February 23-27. The second Test will be played at Ranchi from March 4-8. The teams will then move on to Ranchi for the third Test from March 16 to 20. The final Test will then be played at Dharamsala from March 25-29.

Pune, Dharamsala and Ranchi will be hosting Test matches for the first time. Indore made its Test debut in the ongoing series against New Zealand while Visakhapatnam and Rajkot will host their first Tests in the series against England. The four-Test series against Australia will mark the end of the long 2016-17 home season for India.

Intriguingly, Australia will be playing a T20 against Sri Lanka in Adelaide a day before the India Tests begin. As a result, Australia will go in with different teams for the T20 against Sri Lanka and the Test against India. Australia faced a similar situation in November 2014. They were playing a Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, a couple of days before the T20 against South Africa at Adelaide.

The players who represented the Aussies in the Tests did not feature in the ODIs. While Australia will not have much of a gap between the Tests and T20s, forcing them to field different sides, India will have a gap of 11 days before they play their first Test against Australia. Their last Test before the Australia series ends at Hyderabad on February 12, against Bangladesh, if all goes according to schedule.

The complete schedule is as below:

1st Test, Pune: February 23-27

2nd Test, Bangalore: March 4-8

3rd Test, Ranchi: March 16-20

4th Test, Dharamsala: March 25-29

India agrees to DRS for England series

Meanwhile, India has agreed for use of DRS system on a trial basis for the Tests against England. India had last used the system in the 2008 series in Sri Lanka when, incidentally, current coach Anil Kumble was the captain. They had a bad experience back then, and have decided against using the review system since even as other teams have been consistently using it.

"We are happy to note that Hawk-Eye has institutionalised all the recommendations made by BCCI, and we confirm that this improved version of DRS will be used on a trial basis during the forthcoming series against England. Based on the performance of the system and the feedback that we will receive, further continuation in forthcoming series will be decided," BCCI President Anurag Thakur informed through a release.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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