India to host Australia, South Africa for T20I series before the T20 World Cup, confirms Sourav Ganguly

In a piece of great news for the Indian cricket fans, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly announced that India will host South Africa and Australia for a three-match T20I series each, ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022, which is set to begin on October 16. The T20Is will be a major boost for the teams and will help them in the preparations.

The BCCI Apex Council concluded its meeting on Thursday evening, and a Tsunami of decisions was taken by the officials. While there have been plenty of developments in India’s domestic circuit, there have been some major undertakings regarding the international matches. The Asia Cup has been shifted to the UAE amidst the crisis in Sri Lanka.

“We will host SA and Australia for three T20Is each before going for the T20 World Cup. South Africa will come to India after concluding their ongoing England tour (in September). All those venues which didn’t get to stage a game against SA- Ranchi, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Indore, Mohali- will host T20Is against SA and Australia,” Ganguly told the media after the Board’s Apex Council meeting on Thursday.

India recently hosted the Proteas for a five-match T20I series in June 2022. While the visitors managed to win the first two games to take a 2-0 lead, the Men in Blue bounced back stronger to win the third and fourth T20Is at Rajkot and Vizag. The fifth and decider T20I was washed out due to rain in Bangalore, and as a result, the series ended in a 2-2 stalemate.

India has a jam-packed schedule for the whole 2022-23 cycle

India has not played against Australia in a bilateral series since January 2021. The two teams last met when India travelled to Australia for a multi-format series between December 2020 and January 2021 that consisted of three ODIs, as many T20Is, and four Test matches. The two teams did not even clash in the T20 World Cup 2021 as they were placed in separate groups, and India did not make it past the group stage.

Meanwhile, the Men in Blue are currently gearing up for the white-ball series against West Indies, starting July 22. The Men in Blue will then travel to Zimbabwe for three ODIs. After finishing off their World Cup campaign, India will travel to New Zealand for a white-ball series in November and move to Bangladesh thereon for two Test matches and a three-match ODI series in December. Before hosting South Africa for an ODI series, India will host Australia for four Tests between January and February, followed by an ODI series.

Here’s the schedule:

T20I Series vs Australia

1st T20I – September 20, Mohali

2nd T20I – September 23, Nagpur

3rd T20I – September 25, Hyderabad

T20I Series vs South Africa

1st T20I – September 28, Trivandrum

2nd T20I – October 1, Guwahati

3rd T20I – October 3, Indore

ODI Series vs South Africa

1st ODI – October 6, Ranchi

2nd ODI – October 9, Lucknow

3rd ODI – October 11, Delhi