Australia men's cricket team

Updated: 14 November 2026

Short answer: Australia, run by Cricket Australia, played in the first-ever Test in March 1877 and are the most successful side in ICC events, with six ODI World Cups (most recently 2023), the 2021 T20 World Cup, two Champions Trophies and the 2023 World Test Championship. They tour India for five Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests from 21 January to 3 March 2027.

Short history

Australia and England played the first Test match, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877, and Australia won it. The two sides also played the first ODI, in Melbourne in 1971. Australia's record in ICC tournaments is the strongest of any team: six ODI World Cups, including two won in India (1987 at Kolkata and 2023 at Ahmedabad), the 2021 T20 World Cup, the 2006 and 2009 Champions Trophies, and the 2021–23 World Test Championship, won against India in the final.

Their big Test rivalries are the Ashes with England and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with India.

Australia in India (our general view)

Test tours of India are traditionally among the hardest assignments for Australian sides, because Indian pitches tend to turn more as a match goes on than the pitches Australian batters grow up on. Visiting teams often pick an extra spinner in India, and their batters' method against spin is the big question of most series. Their fast bowlers usually do most of their damage with the new ball and with reverse swing on dry, abrasive surfaces.

2027 tour

The five-Test series runs from 21 January to 3 March 2027: Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi and Ahmedabad. All are day Tests, so evening dew does not apply, but early winter sunsets limit playing time at the eastern venues; see the series page.

Fantasy angle (our general view)

In Indian Tests, Australia's new-ball bowlers and top-order batters carry value early in the match, and their frontline spinner later. Read Test match fantasy before picking for a five-day game.