50% of Adelaide Oval to be open to crowds for India vs Australia Test amid COVID pandemic

Confirming presence of fans for Test series during India's tour, Cricket Australia on Tuesday anunced that 50 per cent of stadium's capacity will be open to crowd for Adelaide Test, set to be played from December 17 onwards. Test at Adelaide Oval, which will also be first day-night Test between India and Australia, will feature nearly 27,000 spectators amid COVID-19 crisis. Tests series is also expected to be first series to witness live crowd after COVID outbreak, due to which all matches are being played behind closed doors. 

" Adelaide Oval is restricted to 50 per cent capacity, with 27,000 tickets available for each day of opening day-night Test," Cricket Australia informed on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, most significant Test of year - Boxing Day test - will open stands to only 25 per cent of its total capacity, as sanctioned by Victorian government. On or hand, fourth Test at Brisbane might witness up to 30,000 people with 75 per cent of total capacity being open for crowd.

"At present, Victorian Government has approved 25,000 fans for each day of Boxing Day Test across public, member and corporate tickets. With improving COVID19 situation in city, it is hoped more tickets may be able to be put on sale closer to time, but this is yet to be confirmed," CA reported. 

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Virat Kohli to miss 3 Tests 

Granting paternity leave to Virat Kohli, BCCI on Monday anunced that Team India skipper will fly back to India after first Test in Adelaide. With several players sustaining injuries during IPL 2020, BCCI also made additional adjustments to previously anunced squad for upcoming tour of Australia which commences on vember 28. national board has also decided to include Rohit Sharma to Test squad while resting him for limited-overs series after he sustained an injury in IPL. A decision on Wriddhiman Saha's inclusion in Test squad will be taken later as he sustained a hamstring tear in IPL game on vember 3. board has also been monitoring veteran speedster Ishant Sharma, and a call on his inclusion will be taken once he gains sufficient match fitness. 

Check revised squads here

India's Tour of Australia 

India will kick off ir tour to Australia with a three-match ODI series starting on Friday, 27 vember, followed by as many T20Is and four Tests. T20Is will be played in Canberra (4 December) and Sydney (6, 8 December). 

first Test will be a day/night affair, from 17-21 December at Adelaide Oval. Melbourne Cricket Ground (26-30 December) will host Boxing Day Test, before action moves to Sydney Cricket Ground (7-11 January) and Gabba (15-19 January). With India currently on top of World Test Championship table and Australia in second, series is expected to be a thriller, as it will also be a part of ICC World Test Championship. 

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(Im Credits: AP)