Melbourne Renegades will host defending champions Perth Scorchers at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday 12 December, the first Big Bash League match ever staged outside Australia.
Cricket Australia confirmed the historic BBL Chennai opener on Friday at a Melbourne Cricket Ground event attended by Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, with the Renegades the designated home team at the ground IPL fans know as the fortress of Chennai Super Kings.
Mitchell Marsh And Perth Scorchers Chase History In Chennai
The BBL|16 curtain-raiser starts at 2.40pm local time (8.10pm AEDT), running straight after day four of Australia’s first Test against New Zealand in Perth, and will be shown on Channel Seven, 7plus, Kayo Sports and Fox Cricket, while SEN reports JioStar will carry the match across India. According to ESPNcricinfo, Cricket Australia is targeting a sell-out of the 35,000-capacity venue, and the Scorchers squad is expected to include Australia T20I captain Mitchell Marsh, whose T20 reset has reshaped Australia’s short-format depth, alongside allrounder Cooper Connolly.
ESPNcricinfo also reports both squads will fly to India once the sixth Sheffield Shield round finishes on 6 December, leaving around four days of preparation in Chennai, with the full BBL|16 schedule due next week. “As you can imagine, taking any sporting event overseas is a challenge. Taking a cricket game is complex, but we’re going into a market that we know loves the game and puts on big cricket events every day of the week,” Big Bash boss Alistair Dobson told the outlet.
The fixture hands a BBL entering its 16th season — one already freshened by Andrew Flintoff’s appointment as Sydney Thunder head coach — a foothold in the world’s biggest cricket market.
