Due to the ongoing lockdowns and border closures in New South Wales and Victoria, the state of Queensland will now host the multi-format women’s series between Australia and India, the Cricket Australia (CA) announced on Monday.
The Indian eves, which is touring Down Under, will play a Test, three ODIs and as many T20Is.
Earlier, the tour was scheduled to begin in Sydney on September 19 before moving to Melbourne and Perth and lastly returning to Sydney again however, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the entire series was forced to be shifted to Queensland.
The Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay will host the ODIs on September 21, 24 and 26, two days later than the scheduled start of the series.
The one-off pink-ball Test will be played at Metricon Stadium from September and will be followed by three T20Is on October 7, 9 and 10.
The Indian eves will be in quarantine for two weeks in Queensland and will be restricted to their rooms with no training till September 13.
“We’ve been monitoring the situation across the country and it is clear that the current COVID challenges prevent the original schedule from proceeding as initially planned,” said CA CEO Nick Hockley.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Queensland Government for agreeing to quarantine the Australian and Indian players and enabling this important series to be played in Queensland. We are also delighted to be bringing our World Champion women’s team to Mackay and regional Queensland. Having had to postpone the series last summer due to the pandemic, we are looking forward to hosting an Indian team which boasts some of the best players in the world in this historic series featuring the first ever day-night Test match between the two sides,” he added.
Significantly, the upcoming multi-format series will be the first affair between the two sides since the T20 World Cup final on March 8, last year.
Earlier, the Indian women’s team left for Australia on Sunday via Dubai.
The squad will be led by Mithali Raj in Test and ODIs while Harmanpreet Kaur will captain the side in the T20Is.
The team will have a four-day practice from September 14.
They will later play a warm-up game (a List A match, vs Aus XI) in Brisbane on September 18 before playing their first ODI.
Indian Women’s Full Tour Schedule:
August 29: Travel to Brisbane via Dubai
August 30 to September 13: Hard quarantine in Brisbane
September 14-17: Rest/practice in Brisbane
September 18: Warm-up game in Brisbane
September 19: Travel to Mackay
September 20: Practice in Mackay
September 21: 1st ODI in Mackay
September 22-23: Rest/Practice
September 24: 2nd ODI in Mackay (day/night)
September 26: 3rd ODI in Mackay
September 27: Travel to Gold Coast
September 28-29: Rest/practice
September 30-October3: Pink Ball Test in Metricon
October 4-6: Rest/practice in Gold Coast
October 7:1st T20I in Metricon
October 8: Rest/practice
October 9: 2nd T20I in Metricon
October 10: 3rd T20I in Meticon
October 11: Team departs Australia from Metricon