'Perth to host next season's Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener'

New Delhi, Mar 19: Perth will host the opening match of the next season's highly-anticipated five-match Border-Gavaskar Test series between Australia and India, said a report.

With this Brisbane once again missed out to be a venue for the opening Test of the Australia home summer.

According to a report from the Sydney Morning Herald, the first Test between Australia and India will be held at Perth Stadium. Adelaide and Brisbane will host the second and third, respectively, with the Boxing Day and New Year’s Tests keeping their traditional timeslots in Melbourne and Sydney.

However, Cricket Australia is yet to finalise the schedule of the Test series and the final announcement not expected until the end of the month, the report added.

Australia have never lost a Test match at Perth including a 164-run victory over the West Indies in 2022 and a 360-run triumph over Pakistan in 2024. Australia also defeated India back in 2018 in the second Test match by 146 series before losing the four-match series 1-2.

In the last four Test series between the two teams, India has been the more dominant team, winning each time. This includes winning the Test series in Australia in back-to-back years, from 2018–19 and 2020–21 (both by identical 2-1 margins).

During their most recent tour of Australia in 2021, India recovered from a disastrous start in Adelaide, where they were bowled out for a record-low 36 runs, which resulted in an eight-wicket thumping.

India leveled the series one-all at Melbourne before fighting to save the Sydney Test and then sealed the historic three-wicket win in Brisbane clinching the series 2-1.