Indian cricket team in Australia in 2020–21

The India cricket team are currently touring Australia from November 2020

to January 2021 to play four Tests, three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and
three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches.[1][2] The Test series will form
part of the inaugural 2019–21 ICC World Test Championship, and the ODI
series formed part of the inaugural 2020–23 ICC Cricket World Cup Super
League.[3][4]

In February 2020, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)

announced that they wanted to play one of the Test matches as
a day/night fixture.[5] On 22 October 2020, the tour was approved by the NSW
Government,[6] with Sydney and Canberra confirmed as the hosts of
the limited overs matches.[7] Four days later, Cricket Australia confirmed the
fixtures for the tour.[8] On 9 November 2020, the BCCI announced that India's
captain Virat Kohli had been granted paternity leave, and would leave the
tour after the first Test match,[9] with Ajinkya Rahane leading the team in
Kohli's absence.[10]

Australia won the first and second ODI matches to take a lead in the series.
[11]
 India won the third ODI match by 13 runs, [12] with Australia winning the
series 2–1.[13] India also won the first and second T20I matches, winning the
T20I series with a game to spare. [14] Australia won the third and final match
by 12 runs, with India winning the series 2–1.[15]

In the first Test, India were bowled out for 36 runs in the second innings,
[16]
 their lowest team total in a Test match.[17]
Background[edit]

In April 2020, Kevin Roberts, CEO of Cricket Australia looked at "creative"

solutions for the tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] These included the
possibility of playing five Test matches instead of four, [19] and to play all the
Test matches behind closed doors at the Adelaide Oval.[20] The Australian
government was also looking at applying international travel exemptions to
allow the tour to happen.[21] The following month, the BCCI confirmed that
they were willing to put players in a two-week quarantine period to ensure
that the tour goes ahead.[22][23] Kevin Roberts later added that there is a "nine
out of 10" chance of the tour taking place. [24][25] The Test series was scheduled
to start in December 2020, with the first Test in Brisbane. [26] The ODI series
was scheduled to start in January 2021.[27] On 28 May 2020, Cricket Australia
confirmed all of the fixtures for the series.[28][29] The following day, Kevin
Roberts stated that the number of Test venues could be reduced to one or two
grounds, depending on any travel restrictions imposed due to the virus.[30]

Originally, the tour was also going to start with three Twenty20

International (T20I) matches, commencing on 11 October 2020, ahead of the
then scheduled 2020 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. [1] However, in July 2020,
the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that the tournament had
been postponed until 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [31] As a result, the
T20I matches were postponed,[32] after they clashed with the revised fixtures
for the 2020 Indian Premier League.[33] Despite a lockdown in Melbourne in
August 2020, Cricket Australia said they would do everything they can to
ensure the Boxing Day Test goes ahead as planned.[34][35] Cricket Australia
were also looking at a revised schedule for the tour, including playing all the
limited-overs matches before the Test series. [36] On 20 August 2020, Sourav
Ganguly, president of the BCCI, said that India's senior men's team would
travel to Australia to fulfil their Future Tours Programme (FTP)
commitments.[37]

In September 2020, Cricket Australia were looking at further contingency

plans for the tour, including moving venues if needed, and the possibility of
replacing the Test match in Brisbane with white-ball fixtures.[38] It was later
announced that no matches of any form of cricket would be played in Perth,
due to a major quarantine breach by then-Sydney Swans player Elijah
Taylor during the 2020 AFL season.[39]

In October 2020, an updated tour itinerary was published, with the ODIs
taking place in Brisbane, the T20Is taking place in Adelaide, and the
day/night Test match also taking place in Adelaide. [40] Cricket Australia also
confirmed that the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Manuka
Oval in Canberra were part of their contingency plan to host the limited overs
matches of the tour.[41][42]

In October 2020, plans began to emerge to allow crowds back into venues,
with Australia slowly coming out of COVID-19 restrictions. [43] The following
month, Cricket Australia confirmed the ground capacities for each match on
the tour,[44] with the possibility of more tickets being made available closer to
the start of each match.[45]

In late December 2020, there was a COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney,

prompting tighter restrictions in New South Wales.[46] As a result, Cricket
Australia looked at the contingency of swapping the venues of the second and
third Tests in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.[47]