Cricket News: BCCI announces change in venue for 3rd Test of India vs Australia

The third Test of the current Border Gavaskar series, will now take place at a different location. This fixture was earlier planned to to take place at Dharmasala from March 1 to 5.

While the news broke after the early conclusion of the Test series opener between India and Australia in Nagpur. The third Test will take place at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, according to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

A number of publications on Sunday stated that the HPCA stadium will no longer act as a host for the 3rd Test. The reason why it won't be able to host India and Australia for the third Test is due to ground renovations.

Moreover, the Dharamsala cricket stadium has only held one Test match till now. On Monday morning, the BCCI officially reaffirmed the same in a statement.

"The third Test of the Australia tour of India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, originally scheduled to take place at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala from 1st to 5th March has now been moved to Holkar Stadium, Indore. Owing to harsh winter conditions in the region, the outfield lacks sufficient grass density and will need some time to develop fully,"

read BCCI's official statement.

Due to the severe weather in the area after the monsoon, the HSPA had to relaid the entire outfield, delaying its preparations for the third Test between India and Australia. Himachal was forced to play all of its home matches during the Ranji Trophy season at the Nadaun Stadium due to the renovations.

An unnamed HSPA official expressed confidence in the facility's ability to pass the BCCI inspection and host the third Test match. After a delegation of authorities deemed the location unprepared for their next Test assignment, the BCCI made the decision to move the location to Indore. They believed that the facility had not been used for domestic matches, as is customary following the relaying of a new outfield.

In the meantime, this will be the Indore stadium's second international match in less than two months. This will be only the 3rd Test ever at the Holkar Stadium and the stats strongly favour team India.

The third Test to be played at the new location will be the first since it has already hosted two, the first in October 2016 against New Zealand and the most recent in November 2019 against Bangladesh. At addition, the most recent international match played in Indore was an ODI match between India and New Zealand, which just finished up.

The Men in Blues are yet to lose or even draw a Test match in Indore and had won the previous 2 by complete dominance.

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