Wankhede waits! Mumbai's iconic ground overlooked for the Australia tour

India players celebrate their win after dismissing Australia’s No. 11 Glenn McGrath in the fourth Test at Wankhede in 2004. Pic/AFP

For the first time since 1979-80, India will host Australia for a five-match or more Test series. But Mumbai, the home of Indian cricket, is not among the five Test venues for the big-ticket event. Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi, and Ahmedabad are the venues for the five Tests, the first of which starts on January 21, 2027.

Probably, more astounding is the fact that the Wankhede Stadium has not hosted an India vs Australia Test since 2004-05 when the series concluded with an India win despite Australia retaining the Border-Gavaskar with a 2-1 win. It is also useful to note that it was here in Mumbai where India achieved their first-ever series win over Australia; Sunil Gavaskar's team beating Kim Hughes's Australians 2-0 in 1979.

Guwahati that hosts the third Test of the 2026-27 India vs Australia series hosted the India vs South Africa Test last season. Ranchi, the fourth Test venue, got a Test in 2024 (India vs England). Chennai's last Test was in the same year (India vs Bangladesh) while Nagpur got its last Test in 2023 for the Border-Gavaskar series. And Ahmedabad that will host the final Test of the 2026-27 Border-Gavaskar series, was a venue in the 2025-26 series against the West Indies.

Several experts feel Test matches should be allotted to only major cricket centres. Those experts include a certain all-time great batsman who answers to the name of Virat Kohli. "In my opinion, we should have five Test centres, period. I mean, I agree [with] state associations and rotation and giving games and all that, that is fine for T20 and one-day cricket, but Test cricket, teams coming to India should know, ‘we're going to play at these five centres, these are the pitches we're going to expect, these are the kind of people that will come to watch, crowds," is what Kohli said at the conclusion of the India vs South Africa Test at Ranchi.

Only recently, the Mumbai Cricket Association was announced as the Best Cricket Association in Domestic Cricket for the third consecutive time at the BCCI Awards in New Delhi. The officials of India's premier state association had every reason to feel proud. Less than a fortnight later, MCA officials have every reason to cringe.

8
No. of India vs Australia Test matches held in Mumbai (4 at Wankhede Stadium and 4 at Brabourne Stadium)

6
No. of Tests India and Australia played in India in the 1979-80 season, the only instance of a six-match Test series between both teams

2
No. of times India and Australia have contested a five-match Test series on these shores - 1959-60 and 1969-70