Adelaide Oval frontrunner to host Australia-India pink-ball Test

Virat Kohli’s side is due to travel down under for a four-match Test series in the next Australian summer as part of a multi-format tour between October 2020 and January 2021

Adelaide Oval is the frontrunner to host a day-night Test between Australia and India.

Virat Kohli’s side is due to travel down under for a four-match Test series in the next Australian summer as part of a multi-format tour between October 2020 and January 2021.

Tim Paine’s team are unbeaten in seven pink-ball Tests, while India – until recently – remained sceptical; they declined to feature a day-night Test as part of their 2018 trip to Australia.

However, after playing their first pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in November, opinion appears to have shifted.

“A formal announcement will come soon but we have decided to play a day-night Test in Australia,” BCCI president Sourav Ganguly told the Times of India newspaper in February. “We will also play one against England at home next February. Day-night Tests will be a regular feature from now on.”

And now, Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts has told cricket.com.au that Adelaide continues to be the most likely venue for the clash.

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“We'd love to see a day-night Test in Adelaide," Roberts said. “It's arguably the best day-night cricket venue in the world, and many would say the best place in the world to watch cricket.

“So a day-night Test in Adelaide would always be fantastic, regardless of the season or the opposition.”

The ground hosted the first ever day-night Test in 2015 – a three-wicket win over New Zealand – and has hosted three more since.

The Gabba in Brisbane has also hosted two, while the Perth Stadium hosted Australia’s most recent victory – a 296-run win over New Zealand in December 2019. North Sydney Oval hosted a drawn Women’s Ashes Test in 2017.

In January, Kohli said: “We are ready and up for the challenge. Whether it's Gabba or Perth, doesn't matter to us. We do have the skill sets as a team now to compete against anyone in the world anywhere. In any format of the game, whether it's white ball, red ball, pink ball.”