India v Australia | BCCI announce schedule for Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Australia will tour India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in February-March next year, the BCCI has announced. The series will comprise four Test matches with Pune set to host the opening Test starting on Feb 23. Bengaluru, Ranchi and Dharamsala will host the other three Tests.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) announced the schedule for the forthcoming Paytm Border-Gavaskar Trophy during the months of February-March 2017. Australia will play a four-match Paytm Test series,” BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke said in a press release on Friday.
Australia currently hold the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which came into existence in 1996, after defeating India 2-0 Down Under in 2014-15.
However, the Aussies had been demolished 4-0 during their previous Test tour of India in 2013 with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picking up 29 wickets to bag the Player of the Series award.
Australia, currently third in the ICC Test rankings, have been struggling for form of late. India regained their No 1 Test ranking after routing New Zealand 3-0 recently.
The itinerary:
1st Test – Pune – February 23-27
2nd Test – Bengaluru – March 4-8
3rd Test – Ranchi – March 16-20
4th Test – Dharamsala – March 25-29