Adelaide:&nbsp;Ending days of speculation, the first Test between India and Australia was on Monday rescheduled for December 9 here at the adopted home ground of late batsman Phillip Hughes, whose tragic death left the host country devastated.
"The series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will now&nbsp;commence in Adelaide on the revised date of Tuesday December&nbsp;9," Cricket Australia said in a statement.
The second Test in Brisbane will start on December 17,&nbsp;followed by Melbourne on December 26 and the final match in&nbsp;Sydney, starting January 6.
A two-day tour game featuring a CA XI was cancelled last&nbsp;week, but India might get an opportunity to play a practice&nbsp;match later this week.
These changes follow discussions between CA, the&nbsp;Australian Cricketers' Association and the Board of Control&nbsp;for Cricket in India (BCCI).
<img title="Virat Kohli" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2014/dec/kohli1dec.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli" /> Virat Kohli. Pic/ AFP
CA Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland thanked the BCCI for its continued support and understanding.
"The BCCI has shown great empathy and understanding which&nbsp;we truly appreciate. They have put the cricket community's&nbsp;concerns for the Hughes family well ahead of their own&nbsp;preparation," he said.
The revised schedule allows for a three-day break leading&nbsp;into the Brisbane Test and a four-day break ahead of the&nbsp;Boxing Day Test in Melbourne for players to adequately&nbsp;prepare.
"The Sydney Test has also been shifted as a result with&nbsp;its start date moving to January 6 to allow for six-day break&nbsp;for players towards the end of a busy series," the statement&nbsp;said.
It also enables a five-day break leading into the ODI&nbsp;Series between Australia, England and India.
Sutherland said the changed program was made due to&nbsp;welfare concerns for Australia's players grieving the loss of&nbsp;Hughes who passed away last week.
Hughes' funeral will take place in his home town of&nbsp;Macksville on Wednesday. The entire Australian team, Indian&nbsp;cricket captain Virat Kohli, visiting side's coach Duncan&nbsp;Fletcher and Team Director Ravi Shastri will attend the&nbsp;funeral of the young batsman.
"Nobody should underestimate just what these players are&nbsp;going through right now. These are difficult days and we need&nbsp;to support them in dealing with their grief," Sutherland said.&nbsp;
"It's very clear that playing a Test right now is just&nbsp;too soon and we are reacting accordingly. We appreciate the&nbsp;understanding of cricket fans around the country, particularly&nbsp;those in Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney during these highly&nbsp;difficult times.
"We acknowledge the difficulties this presents within the&nbsp;cricket communities that make these Test matches such terrific&nbsp;occasions. We are grateful to State Cricket Associations and&nbsp;venues in those cities for their understanding and willingness&nbsp;to accommodate such last-minute changes," he added.
Sutherland said any date later than December 9 would have&nbsp;made the series very hectic for the players.
"A concern with these changes has been creating&nbsp;congestion within the cricket calendar by holding four Test matches in 33 days. We knew that if we started any later than&nbsp;December 9, that congestion would only get worse.
"We looked at possibly holding the Brisbane Test in the&nbsp;new year following Sydney but we felt that would only&nbsp;compromise the tri-series against England and India which is&nbsp;important preparation for our ICC Cricket World Cup campaign,"&nbsp;he said.
"There will be knock-on effects from these decisions&nbsp;which people will obviously want answers to. We will work through them as quickly as we can, but just ask for patience&nbsp;given these unprecedented circumstances."
Sutherland said having the opening Test in Adelaide,&nbsp;which Hughes considered his home, would be a fitting tribute to the batsman who would have turned 26 yesterday.
"While this wasn't done by design, it is somewhat fitting&nbsp;that the first Test will take place in Adelaide at Phillip's adopted home ground where we hope the match can be a seen as a&nbsp;celebration of his life.
"We are committed to developing a range of tributes that&nbsp;show just how much Phillip was loved by the Australian cricket&nbsp;community," he said. 
CA said pre-purchased tickets will be honoured for the&nbsp;revised Test matches, while refunds would also be available.&nbsp;"Details for ticket purchasers will be communicated via&nbsp;the relevant ticket agency, either Ticketek or Ticketmaster. Cricket Australia will contact all Cricket Australia Corporate&nbsp;Hospitality customers shortly."
ACA Chief Executive Alistair Nicholson was also satisfied&nbsp;with the changed schedule.&nbsp;"Based on our discussions with the players and with&nbsp;support of health experts, we believed the First Test in&nbsp;Brisbane was still too early for them to return to the field,&nbsp;and that the Adelaide Test presents more time to grieve and&nbsp;mentally prepare," he said.
"Players will look to prepare themselves with the&nbsp;dedication and commitment that is a trademark of our&nbsp;Australian Test cricketers. There is no doubt that their&nbsp;return to the field will be enormously challenging,&nbsp;particularly for those who were present on the SCG last week.&nbsp;
"Asking them to take the field virtually straight after&nbsp;they farewell Phillip at his funeral was just too much. The&nbsp;extra days afforded the players are considered a vital part of&nbsp;their recovery process and we're pleased that our&nbsp;representations to Cricket Australia were met with a&nbsp;sympathetic ear," he added.
CA also announced that there will be some changes to the&nbsp;schedule for the T20 Big Bash League.

Australia's four-Test series against India will now start in Adelaide on December 9 after Cricket Australia on Monday reworked the schedule following the tragic death of Phillip Hughes

Ind vs Aus: Hughes' adopted home Adelaide to host series-opener

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Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / Ind vs Aus: Hughes' adopted home Adelaide to host series-opener

Ind vs Aus: Hughes' adopted home Adelaide to host series-opener

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