New Delhi, July 9 (IANS): The Indian cricket team will tour Sri Lanka to play three Tests in August and September following which they will also go to Australia in January 2016 to play five One-Day Internationals (ODI) and three Twenty20 Internationals, it was announced on Thursday.
India's tour of Sri Lanka was confirmed by the cricketing boards of both the countries. The team will reach Colombo on August 3 and will play a three-day warm-up game against Sri Lanka Chairman's XI from August 6 to 8 at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in the Sri Lankan capital.
The three Tests will then be played at Galle (August 12-16), Tamil Union Oval (August 20-24), and Sinhalese Sports Club (August 28-September 1) - the latter two stadiums in Colombo. The Indian team will depart on September 2.
It had already been announced that the second Test will be the final match of Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara.
Then India will return to Australia early next year to play the reigning World Champions from January 12 to 31. The five ODIs between the world's two highest ranked teams will be played on January 12 (Perth), 15 (Brisbane), 17 (Melbourne), 20 (Canberra) and 23 (Sydney) while the three T20Is will he held on January 26 (Adelaide), 29 (Melbourne) and 31 (Sydney).
Meanwhile, Australia's in-form women's team will also take on India in three ODIs and three T20Is during the same time. The two teams will play the three T20Is on January 26 (Adelaide), 29 (Melbourne) and 31 (Sydney) while the ODIs will be played on February 2 (Canberra), 5 and 7 (both at Hobart). The ODI series forms part of the ICC Women's Championship.
The three women's T20Is will be played as double-headers prior to the men's matches at the same venues. The two matches on January 26 are expected to draw large television audiences as it is a national holiday in both countries. The hosts celebrate Australia Day while for Indians it is Republic Day.
The announcements came as Cricket Australia (CA) on Thursday made public the international and domestic schedule for the 2015-16 season.
"The match-up between Australia and India, the world's top-ranked teams in ODI cricket. These teams met in the semi-final of the World Cup in a match which saw more than 300 million fans watching on Star TV in India and we want to continue to build a strong rivalry which will be on show throughout the summer," CA executive general manager of operations Mike McKenna said in a statement.