Instead of playing host to a high-profile contest against India, Perth will welcome Test newcomers Afghanistan in the next Australian summer, which WACA cricket officials felt is "a kick in the guts" for fans in Western Australia.
But Cricket Australia (CA) has now explained it was a case of balancing out the FTP over an eight-year period in terms of the selected Test venues for England and India's marquee visits.
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Both Perth and Brisbane get to host England during its Ashes visits considering it is a traditional five-match affair. However, when India arrives, one of the two misses out, with the rest of the four-game Border-Gavaskar Trophy usually spread across to Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.
Hence, the Gabba, not hosting any of India's previous Tests down under in the 2018-19 summer, got the nod this time.
"If Perth received the India Test (this year) it would mean that Perth would have hosted two England Tests and two India Tests over the eight-year cycle for a total of four ... whereas Brisbane would have only hosted two," CA CEO Kevin Roberts was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
"So that would have created an imbalance over the cycle of the Future Tours Programme. And in the national interest and ensuring we take high-profile Test matches to cricket fans in Queensland, it was a more well-balanced solution. Assuming, of course, that we could get full crowds in play, that’s when this schedule was determined."
"The more balanced solution was to play the India Test in Brisbane, meaning over the eight-year cycle it would see Perth hosting three Tests against India and England and Brisbane also hosting three Tests against India and England."
Australia has now stretched its undefeated streak in Brisbane to 31 summers since last going down there in 1988-89 season against the mighty West Indies side.
Roberts, meanwhile, said both India and Australia would love to extend their future Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaigns to five Tests each, which shall also discontinue the theme of either Perth or Brisbane being left dejected when India tours.
But scheduling extra two Tests, one home and other away, in an already crowded calendar would be a major challenge, especially in these uncertain times due to COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's fair to say that both nations share the desire to move to five-Test series in the future, but we need to navigate that with respect to everything else in the calendar," Roberts said.
(Inputs from cricket.com.au)
