Confirmed: BBL takes season opener to India

In a historic moment for the Big Bash, the competition will play its first overseas match in India.

On Friday, Cricket Australia confirmed that the Melbourne Renegades will host the reigning champions Perth Scorchers at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on December 12.

Discussions of the clash were first reported by SEN’s Tom Morris back in February, with Cricket Australia officials travelling to India to see if it was feasible.

The decision to take the BBL’s first game of its 16th season to Chennai has been viewed as a way for the eight-team competition to increase its reach within the cricket-mad country of 1.47 billion people as well as strengthen the relationship between Australia and India.  

Australia and India's Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Narendra Modi were on hand to announce the clash, with the GM of the Big Bash League, Alistair Dobson, believing the season opener will be the highest-viewed match between two Australian teams in a domestic competition.

“This game is also part of a much bigger initiative across both our governments and shows that cricket is a connector for both our countries, and that both the Australian and Indian governments see that and want to be part of it,” he said.

"We're hugely excited by the opportunity, and we expect the match will be the most-watched game in Australian domestic league history for any sport.”

The match will be broadcast in Australia through the competition’s broadcasters on Channel 7 and Fox Cricket.

It will also be broadcast in India by JioStar, which holds the broadcast rights to the IPL.

The BBL now joins fellow Australian sporting codes in the AFL and NRL to have taken regular season matches overseas.

Details

Teams: Melbourne Renegades v Perth Scorchers Date: 12th of December Time: 8:10pm AEDT Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai