India to play five ODIs against Australia in Jan 2015

Melbourne: Cricket Australia (CA) announced on Thursday that cricket World Cup semi-finallists India will return to Australia next year to play the World No.1 in a five-match One-Day International (ODI) Series starting on January 12.

In releasing its summer schedule, CA said the five ODIs will compliment three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches during January, one of which is to be played on India's national holiday, boosting the prospects of a television audience to rival the 300 million viewers that watched the teams do battle in the semi-final of the ICC World Cup in March, reports Xinhua.

India lost the match by 95 runs, but cemented their place as the second-ranked ODI team in the world, behind only Australia which went on to win the tournament.

Among the other announcements released by CA is the confirmation of the first day/night Test match in history, while a series of Australian-first double-headers have been scheduled to raise the profile of the Australian women's cricket team.

CA executive general manager of Operations, Mike McKenna said the "historic" decision to schedule a day/night Test match was to entice new fans to the game, as well as offering overseas viewers a more attractive time to watch the match on television.

"This summer promises to be another history-making season for cricket in Australia," he said on Thursday.

"Test cricket will be played in every state including an inaugural day/night Test match between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide, a step designed to make following the cricket much easier for fans to attend the game or watch on television."

Australia will play three Test matches against New Zealand in November, while the West Indies are scheduled to play three Test matches during December and January.

The five-match ODI series and the T20 series will take place during January and February.