India vs Australia Boxing Day Test may move out of Melbourne

Rising number of COVID-19 cases in Victoria may force Cricket Australia to move the traditional Boxing Day Test against India from Melbourne to Adelaide. Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Adelaide has emerged as a frontrunner to host the December 26-30 marquee fixture. 

CA chairman Earl Eddings has called for an urgent convening of the national cricket cabinet next week to discuss ways for conducting the series smoothly. The series is of paramount importance for the financial health of the Australian board as it will generate a staggering 300 million Australian dollars.

The situation in Victoria is not good. There is no way the current schedule can go ahead as planned with the state border restrictions in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the leading daily quoted a cricket official. The state of Victoria has been one of the epicentres of the pandemic reporting  over 13000 positive cases for the coronavirus besides 170 deaths.

Adelaide, which has emerged as the frontrunner to host the Boxing Day Test, is placed relatively better as South Australia has so far reported 457 confirmed cases with 445 of them recovered.

In May when Cricket Australia released the schedule for the Test and ODI series, it had said that the fixture was subject to change.

India team will feature in the highly-anticipated Test series, which kicks off on December 3rd at Brisbane. The 2nd Test, which will be a day-night affair, is scheduled to be played in Adelaide from December 11. The Boxing Day Test is slated to be held in Melbourne while Sydney will host the New Year Test.