Australia arrive in January 2027 holding the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade, and they arrive at the top of a World Test Championship table that India sit fifth in. Five Tests, six weeks, five cities — from 21 January to 3 March 2027.
It is also the last significant block of WTC points available to India before the 2025-27 cycle closes. This is a full preview: the confirmed schedule, what each venue means, the trophy’s history, and the one statistic that frames the whole series — Australia have won only one Border-Gavaskar series in India, and that was in 2004-05.
The schedule
Confirmed by the BCCI in its home-season announcement of 26 March 2026.
| Test | From | To | Venue | Start (IST) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Thursday 21 January 2027 | Monday 25 January 2027 | Nagpur | 9:30 AM |
| 2nd | Friday 29 January 2027 | Tuesday 2 February 2027 | Chennai | 9:30 AM |
| 3rd | Thursday 11 February 2027 | Monday 15 February 2027 | Guwahati | 9:00 AM |
| 4th | Friday 19 February 2027 | Tuesday 23 February 2027 | Ranchi | 9:30 AM |
| 5th | Saturday 27 February 2027 | Wednesday 3 March 2027 | Ahmedabad | 9:30 AM |
Note the Guwahati start time. It is the only fixture in India’s entire home season that does not begin at 9:30 AM, and the reason is genuinely interesting — more on that below.
What is actually at stake
Two things run in parallel: the trophy itself, and a championship cycle that is nearly over.
| Pos | Team | M | W | L | D | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 87.50 |
| 2 | South Africa | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 75.00 |
| 3 | New Zealand | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 72.22 |
| 4 | Bangladesh | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 58.33 |
| 5 | India | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 48.15 |
| 6 | Sri Lanka | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 41.67 |
The World Test Championship ranks by percentage of available points won, because teams play very different numbers of matches. Every Test is worth 12 points; a win takes all 12, a draw 4, a defeat none.
Five Tests means 60 points on the table — the largest single block remaining to India in this cycle, which closes in January 2027. The arithmetic is straightforward even if the cricket is not: India’s percentage moves further on this series than on anything else they will play.
Who holds the trophy, and how
Australia won the 2024-25 series in Australia 3-1, taking the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in ten years. Worth stating the scoreline precisely, because a number of summaries record it wrongly — the series produced four results and one draw.
| Test | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Perth | India won by 295 runs |
| 2nd | Adelaide | Australia won by 10 wickets |
| 3rd | Brisbane | Match drawn |
| 4th | Melbourne | Australia won by 184 runs |
| 5th | Sydney | Australia won by 6 wickets |
India began that tour with one of their better overseas performances of the decade — a 295-run win in Perth — and then lost three of the next four. Jasprit Bumrah was named Player of the Series with 32 wickets, a return that stands somewhat apart from the result around it.
The series also marked the end of a career: R Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket on 18 December 2024, immediately after the third Test.
The full Border-Gavaskar record
The trophy has been contested since 1996-97, named for Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar.
| Series | Host | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1996-97 | India | India won |
| 1997-98 | India | India won 2-1 |
| 1999-2000 | Australia | Australia won 3-0 |
| 2000-01 | India | India won 2-1 |
| 2003-04 | Australia | Drawn 1-1 |
| 2004-05 | India | Australia won 2-1 |
| 2007-08 | Australia | Australia won 2-1 |
| 2008-09 | India | India won |
| 2010-11 | India | India won |
| 2011-12 | Australia | Australia won 4-0 |
| 2012-13 | India | India won 4-0 |
| 2014-15 | Australia | Australia won 2-0 |
| 2016-17 | India | India won 2-1 |
| 2018-19 | Australia | India won 2-1 |
| 2020-21 | Australia | India won 2-1 |
| 2022-23 | India | India won 2-1 |
| 2024-25 | Australia | Australia won 3-1 |
Seventeen series: India have won 10, Australia 6, and one was drawn — the 1-1 result in Australia in 2003-04.
The statistic that frames this series
Split that table by host country and something stark appears.
| Series played | India won | Australia won | Drawn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In India | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| In Australia | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
Australia have won one Border-Gavaskar series in India in the trophy’s entire history — in 2004-05. Nine series on Indian soil, one Australian win, more than twenty years ago.
India’s home record in this fixture is the strongest thing either side has going into 2027, and it is why a five-Test series at home is so valuable to a WTC campaign that has otherwise gone poorly. We are not offering a view on what happens — no page on this site does — but the historical pattern is worth knowing before the coverage starts.
It is also worth noting the counterweight: India’s two most recent series wins in Australia, in 2018-19 and 2020-21, were achieved away from home, and Australia’s 2024-25 win ended a run of four consecutive Indian series victories.
Nagpur: the opener, 21–25 January
The series begins in Nagpur, and starting a home series there is a familiar choice. The Vidarbha Cricket Association ground has historically produced surfaces that assist spin, often from relatively early in a match.
An opening Test carries disproportionate weight in a five-match series. It sets the tone, it settles selection questions that are still open, and in a percentage-based championship the twelve points are worth exactly as much as the twelve available in the decider — which is not how a series feels while it is being played.
Chennai: 29 January – 2 February
Chepauk is among the most distinctive Test grounds in the country and has a long association with matches that go the distance. The surface traditionally takes spin and rewards patience, and the ground’s reputation for producing results is well earned.
Chennai in late January and early February is comfortable by Indian standards — warm rather than punishing, which matters across five days. The gap between this Test and the next is the longest of the series, at nine days.
Guwahati: the most interesting fixture on the list
This is the one worth paying attention to, and not only because of the cricket.
The Barsapara Cricket Stadium made its Test debut in November 2025, when India hosted South Africa there. It became India’s 30th Test venue, the first ground in the Northeast to stage a Test, and the easternmost Test venue in the country.
- The 9:00 AM start is half an hour earlier than every other Indian Test venue.
- The reason is daylight. The Northeast sees the sun rise and set considerably earlier than the rest of India, which operates on a single time zone.
- It produced a genuine first in Test cricket — a tea interval taken before lunch, because the session structure shifts with the early start.
- Adjustments of this kind are usually reserved for day-night Tests, which makes Guwahati’s arrangement unusual for a standard match.
- Hosting a Border-Gavaskar Test in its second year as a Test venue is a substantial vote of confidence.
There is a harder edge to Guwahati’s short Test history, though. That debut match against South Africa in November 2025 is the Test India lost by 408 runs — the heaviest defeat of their current WTC cycle, and the result that did most to drop them to 48.15%.
So Australia’s third Test comes at a ground where India have played once and lost heavily, at a start time neither side encounters anywhere else, with a session structure that is still novel. Whatever else it is, it will not be routine.
Ranchi: 19–23 February
The JSCA International Stadium Complex is a relatively recent addition to the Test roster and has generally produced surfaces that offer something to spin as a match progresses, without the sharp early turn associated with some Indian grounds.
By the fourth Test of a five-match series in February, workload becomes a genuine factor — particularly for fast bowlers, who by this point will have been through three matches in a month with three-day gaps.
Ahmedabad: the finale, 27 February – 3 March
The series closes at the Narendra Modi Stadium, which holds the largest capacity in world cricket and has become the default venue for Indian finals and deciders. It staged the 2026 T20 World Cup final in March 2026 and the 2026 IPL final that May.
Early March in Ahmedabad is warming rapidly, and heat across five days is a real physical consideration rather than a footnote. If the series is alive going into this Test — and in a five-match contest it usually is — it will be played in front of the largest crowd of the tour.
The scheduling: three-day gaps and one long break
| Gap | Between | Days between Tests |
|---|---|---|
| 1 → 2 | Nagpur to Chennai | 3 |
| 2 → 3 | Chennai to Guwahati | 8 |
| 3 → 4 | Guwahati to Ranchi | 3 |
| 4 → 5 | Ranchi to Ahmedabad | 3 |
Three of the four gaps are three days, which in practice means a travel day and two days of recovery. That is a demanding rotation, and it is the main reason modern home Test squads carry more seam-bowling depth than the playing eleven suggests.
The long break in the middle falls between the two most geographically distant venues on the list — Chennai in the far south to Guwahati in the far northeast is close to the full diagonal of the country.
Conditions across January to March
- Late January in Nagpur — cool mornings; fog is a known risk in northern and central India in this period.
- Chennai in early February — warm and humid but comfortable relative to later in the year.
- Guwahati in mid-February — pleasant, with the early start driven by light rather than heat.
- Ranchi in late February — warming, generally dry.
- Ahmedabad in early March — hot, and the most physically demanding conditions of the series.
- Dew is less of a factor in Test cricket than in day-night white-ball matches, but morning moisture can assist seam early.
Following it from India
A home series is the most convenient cricket in the calendar, and the timings are straightforward.
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Start time | 9:30 AM IST — except Guwahati at 9:00 AM |
| Session length | Roughly two hours each, with lunch and tea intervals |
| Guwahati exception | Tea is taken before lunch because of the early start |
| Day’s play | Around six hours plus intervals, weather and light permitting |
| Fifth-day finishes | Common in India — do not write off a match on day four |
| Broadcast | Confirm against the official listing rather than assuming |
Tickets are sold per venue through the host state association’s appointed partner rather than centrally, and Test tickets are generally far easier to obtain than white-ball tickets. Our ticket-buying guide covers the process and the scam patterns worth knowing.
Where this sits in India’s season
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy closes a home season that opens four months earlier.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 27 Sep – 17 Oct 2026 | West Indies — 3 ODIs, 5 T20Is |
| Oct–Dec 2026 | New Zealand away — T20Is, ODIs, Tests |
| 13–27 Dec 2026 | Sri Lanka at home — 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is |
| 3–9 Jan 2027 | Zimbabwe at home — 3 ODIs |
| 21 Jan – 3 Mar 2027 | Australia — Border-Gavaskar Trophy, 5 Tests |
Note that there are no home Tests before January. India’s entire home red-ball season is this series, compressed into six weeks. Our India home season 2026-27 guide carries the full fixture list, and the India cricket schedule guide explains why the calendar is shaped this way.
What comes after
The WTC cycle closes in January 2027, which means the final Tests of this series sit at the very end of it. Attention then turns to the 50-over game: the 2027 ODI World Cup guide runs from 4 October to 21 November 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, with the eight ranking places already settled at the 30 September 2026 cut-off and the Qualifier following in February 2027.
What we do not publish
No odds, no tips, no predictions, no win probabilities — here or anywhere on this site. A five-Test series against Australia will generate an enormous volume of forecasting, much of it stated with confidence nobody has earned.
What we publish instead is what is verifiable: dates, venues, start times, standings and history. If a page on this site tells you Australia have won once in India since 1996, that is a fact you can check. It is not a prediction about 2027, and we will not dress it up as one.
The short version
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2027 runs 21 January to 3 March across Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi and Ahmedabad. All Tests start at 9:30 AM IST except Guwahati at 9:00 AM, where the early sunset in the Northeast also produces tea before lunch — a genuine first in Test cricket.
Australia hold the trophy after winning 3-1 at home in 2024-25, their first Border-Gavaskar series win in a decade, with Bumrah taking 32 wickets in a losing cause. Across 17 series India lead 10-6 with one drawn — and Australia have won only once in India, in 2004-05. With India fifth in the WTC on 48.15% and Australia top on 87.50%, these five Tests carry 60 points and close the cycle. See our India home season 2026-27 guide, India v Sri Lanka preview and cricket betting ID page for more.
How India reached fifth place
The 48.15% is easier to understand as a sequence than as a number. Nine Tests, four wins, four defeats and a draw — but the shape matters more than the totals.
| When | Opponent | Where | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun–Jul 2025 | England | Away | Series level — India won the 2nd by 336 runs and the 5th by 6 runs; England won the 1st by 5 wickets and the 3rd by 22 runs; 4th drawn |
| Oct 2025 | West Indies | Home | India won both — by an innings and 140 runs, then by 7 wickets |
| Nov 2025 | South Africa | Home | India lost both — by 30 runs, then by 408 runs |
The England series was as close as a five-match contest gets: a 22-run defeat and a 6-run win inside the same tour. Those margins do not move a percentage table much in either direction.
The home defeat to South Africa is what did the damage. Losing two Tests at home is costly in any format of the championship; losing the second by 408 runs is a different order of result, and it happened on Guwahati’s Test debut — the ground that hosts the third Test of this series.
India go into the Australia series having also played two Tests in Sri Lanka in August 2026, covered in our India v Sri Lanka preview.
Why a draw is worth so little
Worth spelling out, because it changes how a five-Test series is read.
| Result | Points | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| Win | 12 | 12 |
| Tie | 6 | 12 |
| Draw | 4 | 12 |
| Loss | 0 | 12 |
A draw earns a third of a win. Across a five-match series, drawing all five returns 20 of 60 points — a 33.3% return that would pull almost any side’s percentage down rather than lift it.
That is the practical reason home series matter disproportionately in this system. Indian conditions have historically produced results rather than draws, and in a percentage table a ground that produces a winner is worth more than one that does not, whichever way the result goes.
Over-rate penalties also deduct points, and have decided placings in previous cycles. A side can lose ground in the table without losing a match.
India’s final white-ball commitment before this Test series is the Zimbabwe tour of India 2027, which finishes on 9 January, twelve days before the first Test.
This is an editorial preview from the team at Readdy Anna Cricket. It covers schedules, venues, standings and history only — we do not publish odds, tips, predictions or win probabilities. Fixtures can change; confirm against BCCI before booking travel or tickets. Readdy Anna Cricket is for adults 18 and over. Online gaming laws in India changed under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 and vary by state — check the rules where you live. Free confidential support is listed on our responsible gaming page.