The first cricket Test between Australia and India will now take place in Adelaide after a major reshuffling of the series following the death last week of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes.
The first Test was supposed to start in Brisbane on Thursday but has been delayed by a week and switched to Adelaide to give grief-stricken players more time to recover with Hughes' funeral taking place on Wednesday.
The Australian and Indian cricket boards considered a range of options in conjunction with the players' union, including cancelling the Brisbane Test altogether, before opting for a reshuffle.
Three of the four matches in the Border-Gavaskar series have been changed, according to a revised fixture list published on Cricket Australia's official website on Monday. Adelaide, which was due to host the second Test from Dec. 12-16, will now host the series opener from Dec. 9-13, in what is sure to be a highly emotional occasion. Brisbane will now host the second Test from Dec. 17-21 while the third Test will proceed as planned from Dec. 26-30 in Melbourne.
The fourth and final Test will still take place in Sydney in the New Year, but will start on Jan. 6, three days later than originally scheduled.
Changes to the dates of the matches were expected after CA postponed the start of the first Test and the Indian team, currently in Adelaide, cancelled their flight to Brisbane on Monday. Hughes died in a Sydney hospital last Thursday, two days after he was struck in the head by a short-pitched delivery during a domestic first class match. His death has triggered an outpouring of emotion, sympathy and support from inside and outside the cricketing world.
Dhoni to reach Australia before First Test
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is expected to join the team ahead of the rescheduled first Test. Owing to a hand injury, Dhoni had not been named in the original squad for the first Test, earlier scheduled to be played in Brisbane from December 4. He was earlier expected to join the team for the 'second Test' in Adelaide, which was originally starting on December 12.
Now the Indian captain will be able to join the team sometime this week, before the Test series begins.
The Indian team will be playing its second practice match at the Glenelg Oval in suburban Adelaide ahead of the first Test. It will be a two-day game, beginning December 4. The opposition for that tie will be another Cricket Australia XI, though it will expectantly be devoid of any big names since the players are in mourning. Dhoni, however, will be unavailable for the practice game as he is not likely to join before December 4.
Indian team spokesperson Dr Redhills Baba said that the skipper, though, will join the team well ahead of the first Test, which means stand-in captain Virat Kohli will not lead the side when the series gets under way at the Adelaide Oval.
Meanwhile, Kohli will be attending Hughes' funeral in the late cricketer's home-town, Macksville on Wednesday. He will be joined by batsmen Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay, along with team director Ravi Shastri, coach Duncan Fletcher and team manager Arshad Ayub.
The team management expects Kohli, Sharma and Vijay to return in time for the two-day tour game, which is scheduled on Thursday. The entire Australian cricketing fraternity will be attending the funeral, which will begin in the afternoon and will be televised by major channels here. The Australian Test squad is then expected to travel to Adelaide on Thursday and then begin preparations for the Test series.
However, Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland has stated that "any grieving player is free to pull out of the match or indeed the Test series". "Right now there's a funeral tomorrow and let's just understand that's going to be difficult enough as it is," Sutherland said before departing for Macksville.
"There will be a great temptation for people to speculate about who's going to play and how they are feeling. I encourage everyone to give the players their space. No one will think ill of anyone who feels uncomfortable about playing. Test cricket is a different game. It is not just going out there and playing a game of sport for a couple of hours. You need to go out there and commit to five days. It will be up to the individual. Any player that is not comfortable or doesn't fell right, or there is medical advice to suggest that they are not quite right, then we will obviously understand that and I am sure the broader public will understand that as well," he added.
Meanwhile, there will be obvious speculation about Australian skipper Michael Clarke's participation in the first Test. He had earlier been included in the original squad for the Brisbane Test pending a fitness test, but a small controversy had erupted that saw him at loggerheads with the national selectors over the issue. National selector Mark Waugh had revealed that Hughes would have been in contention for a Test return if Clarke had been sidelined due to lack of fitness.
Hughes' death put that issue on the back-burner like everything else, and Clarke has been a great leader off the pitch for Cricket Australia in this time of tragedy. However, it has also not given him any time for rehabilitation and thus, his participation in the opening Test is still a big question mark
