In a news that shall sound music to Cricket Australia's (CA) ears, the BCCI is optimistic of India's scheduled tour down under going ahead on time despite the ongoing crisis because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tour is extremely important to the finances of the CA regime, which has already announced 80 per cent lay off for all its staff until the end of June to better deal with the game's indefinite suspension.
India's lucrative visit includes three T20Is, ahead of the T20 World Cup, four Tests, and three ODIs.
While BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal had already said the team is ready to quarantine for 14 days prior to the series, the sources in the board have now told India Today that it will most likely be played on time.
Those travelling to Australia amid the pandemic have to go into isolation for a couple of weeks, which could have seen BCCI postponing the tour but the board has expressed willingness to play the scheduled Border-Gavaskar Trophy in December-January slot only.
The sources amid the Indian cricket board also confirmed that if the T20 World Cup doesn't happen, India's tour will be played in separate parts.
The Sourav Ganguly-led administrative regime feels that cricket could resume somewhere around September-October, an opinion the board is unlikely to make public till the lockdown continues.
Playing different formats concurrently in bio-secure venues is also being considered.
There have also been reports suggesting that the Test series could have an additional fifth Test.
"As far as the fifth Test goes, when cricket resumes, (we will see) whether any country would like to host an additional Test or have two T20s instead, which is likely to generate more revenues," treasurer Dhumal said.
(Inputs from India Today)
