MELBOURNE: Australia are likely to tour Bangladesh this year for a T20I series, intended to serve as preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup slated to be hosted by India.
This tour will be Australia’s first in Bangladesh since 2017. Earlier, the side was slated to go to Australia to play Tests as part of the World Test Championship, but now the plan has been changed, reported ESPNCricinfo.
According to the Future Tours Program (FTP), Bangladesh are also slated to host England for white-ball games ahead of the T20 World Cup, so this may mean that England-Bangladesh-Australia may very well play a triangular series.
Cricket Australia and Bangladesh Cricket Board have been in talks regarding this brief tour.
Earlier this month, Australia’s three-match Test tour of South Africa was postponed due to an ‘unacceptable’ coronavirus risk. The Australian board had said that travelling from Australia to South Africa at this current time would have had an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to the visiting players.
As the series between Australia and South Africa got postponed, the ICC on Tuesday confirmed that New Zealand has now become the first team to qualify for the finals of the World Test Championship (WTC). India, Australia, and England are the other three teams that will be fighting it out to battle against the Kiwis in the summit clash.
Cricket Australia had also clarified that it would not be asking the ICC to delay the WTC final and as a result, the fate of Tim Paine’s side reaching the final depends on the upcoming four-match Test series between India and England.
Australia will next be seen in action in the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand.