‘Greed and overkill’: Forgotten Australia vs India series proves cricket has lost the plot

As cricket fans prepare to watch India and Australia battle it out in the World Cup final, a bizarre move has been slammed as plain overkill.

Matthew Sullivan

3 min read

November 18, 2023 - 11:47PM

Whoever wins Sunday’s World Cup between Australia and India will barely get a chance to celebrate, thanks to cricket’s relentless international schedule.

The two giants of global cricket will battle it out for ODI supremacy in Ahmedabad.

India are red hot favourites to win their third ODI World Cup, while Australia are aiming to claim their sixth trophy in the 50-over format.

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But spare a thought for the players, who will need to cut their celebrations short to prepare for a five-match bilateral T20 series that begins in India on Friday.

Already this year, India and Australia have played each other in a four-match Test series, the World Test championship Final in England and two separate ODI series. That’s before even mentioning the seven-week ODI World Cup, which began in October and is finally about to wrap up.

The scheduling of the relatively meaningless T20 series straight after the World Cup has left many cricket pundits perplexed and frustrated.

India and Australia play a T20 series straight after the World Cup. (Photo by Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

Former England captain Michael Vaughan wrote on social media: “It doesn’t sit right with me that the 2 finalists 4 days later will start a T20 series against each other.

“Why can’t we allow players the chance to have a moment’s rest after a WC or whoever wins the chance to celebrate properly for a couple of weeks.. It’s complete greed and overkill.”

Apparently there is a one-day warm-up match on Sunday now between India and Australia ahead of the five match T20 series. Random.
— Daniel Cherny (@DanielCherny) November 16, 2023

I have just discovered Australia are playing a 5 match T20 series against India AFTER the World Cup. Squished in before the Australian Test summer (Dec 14) and BBL (Dec 7) starts.
CA will literally do whatever the BCCI tells it to. pic.twitter.com/jmmDOsp8Yo
— Tom O'Neil (@thomasjameoneil) November 17, 2023

Fox Cricket’s Brendon Julian told news.com.au earlier in the World Cup: “They’ve had a very intense Ashes campaign squeezed in.

“They’ve had a One-Day tournament in South Africa, then they’ve played some warm up games before the World Cup. You know they play five T20s after this World Cup in India before they come home?

“At the end of the day, I don’t want to talk about fatigue with players because that’s the business and that’s what they’ve got to do. But also, Cricket Australia are part of the scheduling as well and players get eight weeks off a year.”

Many of Australia’s best players compete across all three formats of cricket and also played in an intense Ashes series in England in the middle of the year.

Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc will miss the T20 series but David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa have all been named in the squad.

Too much cricket is never enough...until it is. (Photo by Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

Matthew Wade will captain Australia in the series, which ends just two weeks before Australia takes on Pakistan in Perth in the first Test of the home summer.

India is yet to announce its squad for the T20 series but it wouldn’t be a surprise if they name a second string side, particularly if they win the World Cup final.

Australia will play three Tests against Pakistan and two against the West Indies at home, before a long summer ends with a two-match Test series against New Zealand across the ditch.

Thankfully for the players, the 2024 calendar is expected to be less congested than this year, with the T20 World Cup in the United States the major international event on the schedule.

Australia’s T20 squad

Matthew Wade (c), Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Travis Head,

Josh Inglis, Kane Richardson, Aaron Hardie, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

Australia vs India T20 series

Australia vs India 1st T20 — November 24

Australia vs India 2nd T20 — November 27

Australia vs India 3rd T20 — November 29

Australia vs India 4th T20 — December 2

Australia vs India 5th T20 — December 4

Australia Test summer

Australia vs Pakistan — 14-18 December @ Perth Stadium