India are set to play a three-match series against Australia right before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup, as reported by sources on Friday.
The BCCI is seeing the bilateral series as part of the preparations for the World Cup.
Although dates and venues are yet to be announced, the matches will be played between September 20 to 27.
The first ODI can be played on September 20, followed by matches on September 23 and September 26. However, the matches are set to be played at venues that are not hosting World Cup matches.
The World Cup games will be hosted in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Dharamsala, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Kolkata. Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram stage warm-up games.
This will be the Aussies’ second ODI series against the Blues as visitors this year. Their last visit to India was in March where they won the series 2-1.
This series will turn out to be very crucial as both teams will commence their World Campaign on October 8 against each other at the M Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
As per the secretary of BCCI Jay Shah, the bilateral series will be played under new media rights while also confirming that the existing media rights may come to a conclusion by the end of August.
"The tender will be coming out soon. We're planning to close the media rights process by August end," Jay Shah was quoted as saying by Inside Sport on Wednesday
It must be noted that it is going to be one hell of a ride for Team India as they will also participate in the Asia Cup in September, which will end on September 17.
Just right after the conclusion of the ODI series against the Aussies, India will be taking on England in the first warm-up match of the Cricket World Cup 2023 on September 29.
With very little rest in the month of September, it has to be seen if this hectic schedule will affect India physically or even mentally.
Sohail Imran Sohail Imran is a senior reporter for Geo News.