Cricket Australia Considering Five-Match Test Series Against India

Cricket Australia is considering to host a five-game contest instead of a four-match series as it continues looking for ways to compensate the financial losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

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New Delhi: The Indian cricket team is scheduled to face Australia in a four-Test series towards the end of 2020. Last time, team India under Virat Kohli's captaincy scripted history by defeating the Tim Paine-led Aussies on their home soil 2-1 - becoming the first-ever Indian team to register a Test series win in Australia. However, Cricket Australia is considering to host a five-game contest instead of a four-match series as it continues looking for ways to compensate the financial losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "If you contemplate the prospect of the international season in particular being affected, we have an issue of hundreds of millions of dollars on our hands," Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press on Tuesday. "So it's very important that ... we do everything possible to stage the season. Whether or not there's people at the venue or not ... we will explore all viable options." he added. Adding a fifth Test match in the series, which could be played in one city at a stadium without spectators, is one of the options discussed by the financially struggling CA. "Fortunately we have a little bit of time to work through the different scenarios with the India series. But we're not ruling out any possibility for that at this point in time," Roberts said. CA is also discussing hosting the T20 World Cup without any fans. "We might not generate financial returns from that event that are as significant as the international cricket season (in Australia)," Roberts said. "But what we do know is that the bigger returns from the broadcast rights around the event that are generated by the ICC are very important to all of our counterparts around the cricket world." "So it's incumbent on us to do everything possible to stage and host the T20 World Cup."