Australia will tour India for a five-match Test series starting January 21 next year

Australia will kick-start their Border Gavaskar Trophy title defense in the hostile conditions of Nagpur, the site of an innings defeat on their last Test tour of India.

Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi and Ahmedabad are the other venues locked in for the five-match series by the BCCI, who revealed their schedule for India’s 2026-27 home season for the men’s side on Thursday.

Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2026-27 

 

January 21-25: Nagpur

 

January 29-February 2: Chennai

 

February 11-15: Guwahati

 

February 19-23: Ranchi

 

February 27-March 3: Ahmedabad

The January 21 start date gives Pat Cummins’ men just under a fortnight to rejuvenate after their last home Test against New Zealand in Sydney, which is scheduled for January 4-8.

The side will be back on a plane shortly after the final match of the heavyweight away assignment to take on England in the 150th year anniversary Test at the MCG from March 11.

It has been over two decades since Australia’s last BGT win on Indian shores in 2004-05, making it an unconquered territory for even the senior-most players in the current side.

Australia had succumbed to an innings and 132-run defeat in the first game of their last tour of the subcontinent nation, played at Nagpur, which is also the venue for the upcoming series’ opener.

That decimation by spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja was also their biggest loss of that 2023 trip.

Ahmedabad, where the two sides had played out a draw three years ago, is the only other venue retained from that series, which was played over four matches.

This will be the first time Australia will play a Test in the north-east Indian city of Guwahati, while the only game they played in Ranchi – in 2017 – had resulted in a draw.

Chennai, the most familiar of the five venues with a history of seven Tests between the two sides, has only produced one win for the Aussies in contrast to three losses. It had also seen a rare tie being played out in 1986.

While the recent history of the BGT has favoured India, Australia will be buoyed by their 3-1 win in the last meeting in the last home summer that saw the trophy return to these shores for the first time in a decade.

India have also shed their dominant home record, having lost five of the nine home Tests since the start of the 2024-25 season.