BCB announces schedule for the Test series against Australia

After a lot of delays, finally, the Australia tour of Bangladesh 2020 has a date. On Wednesday, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed that the Australian cricket team will be touring Bangladesh later this year for a two-match Test series. The series will be the part of the ICC World Test Championship.

The Australian side was supposed to tour Bangladesh twice October 2019 and February 2020. The first tour would have consisted of three T20Is while the second was planned for the two Tests. But to the fixture congestion, both the tours were postponed until further notice by the Bangladesh Cricket Board. Finally, Cricket Australia and BCB have come together to finalise a date for the tour and the fans of both nations can only rejoice this news.

Australia to tour Bangladesh in June, T20I schedule yet to be announced

The two Tests between Bangladesh and Australia will be played in Chattogram and Dhaka. According to the update given by ESPNcricinfo correspondent in Bangladesh, Australia will play the first Test against the Tigers at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram from June 11-15. After this, the two teams will travel to Dhaka to play the second and the final Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. The final Test will be played between June 19 and 23.

The three-match T20I series between Bangladesh and Australia will now be played just ahead of the ICC men’s T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia. This could suggest that both the boards are trying to use the three matches as a preparation towards the World Cup which is scheduled to start on October 18.

Bangladesh and Australia have played six Tests between them so far. Australia have won five of them while Bangladesh have won only one Test. Their solidarity win against the Aussies came in 2017 in Dhaka. Interestingly, Dhaka is one of the venues of the 2020 series as well. That series had ended in a 1-1 draw after the visitors clinched victory in Chattogram.

The two-match Test series will be crucial for the Tigers as this will be their first match in the tournament at home. Bangladesh has played three matches so far and lost all of them. On the other hand, Australia looks in a strong position to qualify for the final of the coveted tournament. The Aussies are sitting on the second position on the points table with 296 points, only 64 points behind the table-toppers India.