Australia tour of India to start with one-off Test at Wankhede

The 2023-24 Australia Women's tour of India is likely to be played entirely in Mumbai with the Wankhede Cricket Stadium set to host the one-off Test match, codesports.edu reported.

The tour that’s scheduled to be played in December - January will comprise one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is. According to the report, after the one-off Test, three ODIs also will be played at the Wankhede and the T20Is will be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai in January 2024.

Australia last played a Test in India 40 years ago way back in 1984 at the same venue.

Since then India have played five Tests Down Under with the last one being a pink Test during their tour of 2021. India drew that game at the Carrara Oval with the opener Smriti Mandhana scoring her maiden Test match century. Although they were on the ascendancy in the Test match, India went down 5-11 in the multi-format series having managed to win only one of the six limited-over matches. It remains to be seen if the scheduled series in Mumbai will follow the same format in terms of the point system.

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Australia did visit India for a five-match T20I series in December last year where they played two T20Is at the DY Patil Stadium and rest of the matches at the CCI Brabourne. The visitors managed to win the series 4-1 and the Meg Lanning led side also went on to beat India in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2023 in Cape Town before lifting the trophy by defeating the hosts South Africa.

India last played international cricket in September when Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. won the gold medal at the Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou, China. Australia are currently in action against the West Indies in the ICC Women’s Championship ODI series and are leading the series 1-0. Earlier, they won the T20I series 2-1 despite some stellar performances from Windies skipper Hayley Matthews. 

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India are also scheduled to host England in early December for a four-match series with one-off Test and three T20Is.