The Victoria Bitter ODI and KFC T20 international series will see the world's best return to tackle the World Champions
India returns for limited overs encore
World Cup semi-finalists India will tour Australia for five one-day internationals and three T20 matches in January 2016, with Australia Day cricket confirmed to return to the Adelaide Oval.
India, which also celebrates its national holiday on January 26, will play Australia in a T20 international double header that will start with the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars against the Indian women's team.
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The KFC T20 Series will also see Twenty20 international cricket return to the Sydney Cricket ground for the first time in nearly six years in a new partnership between Cricket Australia and the SCG.
The Victoria Bitter ODI Series takes in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, with all matches to be day-night affairs. The time difference to the west coast will see the series opening match at the WACA start at 11.20am local (2.20pm AEDT).
The T20 matches, which will be a key psychological battleground ahead of the World T20 in India later in 2016, will be played in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney – all as double-headers with the women's teams.
"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," Cricket Australia Executive General Manager of Operations Mike McKenna said.
"We’re also pleased to be bringing more content to the SCG as part as part of a new agreement to host all international cricket in NSW at that ground.
"The partnership will see international Twenty20 cricket return to the SCG for the first time since 2010, adding to the Test and any One-Day International matches scheduled for Sydney as well."
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The 2015 Australia Day match in Sydney proved to be a damp squib, with no result possible, and the South Australian Cricket Association and Adelaide-based supporters are sure to be delighted at its return.
Australia last faced India in a one-day match in the semi-final of the 2015 World Cup, which the host nation won convincingly thanks to a century from Steve Smith and early wickets to Mitchell Johnson. The 95-run margin of victory was the largest in a World Cup semi-final.
It will be the second successive summer India have visited these shores – the Test team surrendered the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last summer in the Commonwealth Bank Test Series and then were left watching as Australia and England met in the Carlton Mid ODI Tri-Series final.
India impressed in their World Cup opener against Pakistan at a sold-out Adelaide Oval – a match watched by an estimated 1 billion people globally.
They played two games in Perth – beating the United Arab Emirates and West Indies – and two games in Melbourne – where they beat South Africa in their second match of the tournament and Bangladesh at the quarter-final stage – before the SCG semi-final.
Victoria Bitter ODI series v India
1st ODI: January 12, WACA
2nd ODI: January 15, Gabba
3rd ODI: January 17, MCG
4th ODI: January 20, Manuka Oval
5th ODI: January 23, SCG
1st T20: January 26, Adelaide Oval
2nd T20: January 29, MCG
3rd T20: January 31, SCG
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