Cricket fans around the world are set to witness a groundbreaking milestone for Australia’s premier domestic T20 competition, the Big Bash League (BBL), after organisers officially confirmed that the 2025-26 season will open with a historic first-ever overseas match between two of the league’s most storied sides, the Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Renegades. The fixture, scheduled for December 12 at Chennai’s iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium, marks the first time a BBL game will be hosted outside of Australia, and league executives are already projecting it could break viewership records for Australian domestic sport.
The landmark fixture was formally announced on Friday during a high-profile appearance by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, underscoring the deep cultural and sporting ties between the two cricket-mad nations. Alistair Dobson, Big Bash League’s executive general manager, framed the event as a transformative moment for the competition, noting that India’s massive, passionate cricket fanbase combined with a prime-time broadcast slot for domestic audiences in Australia will deliver an unprecedented global audience.
“With India’s massive cricket audience added to our prime-time viewership back home in Australia, we project this will be the most-watched Australian domestic sporting event in history,” Dobson said. “We all know just how massive cricket is in India, and that reach makes this fixture absolutely enormous.”
All eight men’s BBL franchises submitted expressions of interest to participate in the historic Indian match, but organisers ultimately selected the Scorchers and Renegades after evaluating a range of factors, including scheduling flexibility and Perth’s geographic proximity to India that reduces travel burdens for the squad. Dobson added that the selection of the reigning BBL champion Perth Scorchers was also a natural fit given the franchise’s unparalleled on-field success and global recognition among cricket followers.
“The Scorchers’ track record of success has made them a household name in cricket globally — in terms of consistent on-field results, they’re arguably the best domestic cricket team in the world,” Dobson noted. He added that both franchises will need to adjust their player contracting arrangements to accommodate the overseas opening fixture.
The match will be broadcast nationally in India by leading media network JioStar, bringing Australia’s dynamic domestic T20 competition to hundreds of millions of cricket fans across the subcontinent. Chennai’s Northeast Monsoon season, which runs from October through December, was noted in organisers’ announcements, though no specific concerns about weather impacts on the fixture were raised.
Australian cricket legend Steve Waugh, who first toured India with the national side in 1986, said he never imagined a milestone like an Australian domestic match hosted in India would come to fruition during his early career. Waugh, who has developed a deep affection for India over four decades of visiting the country, called the fixture a game-changing opportunity for the BBL to grow its global profile.
“It gives the Big Bash world exposure, so it’s a fantastic opportunity for the competition,” Waugh said. Reflecting on his first tour of India in the 1980s, he noted that much has changed for Australian cricketers traveling to the subcontinent: “Back then, we were a bit apprehensive, had a bit of a siege mentality, because we didn’t understand the culture. Now, players are far more comfortable here — they play in the IPL every year, they understand the people and how everything works, so it’s a much smoother experience.”
Waugh, an avid amateur photographer, added that India feels like a second home to him after 40 years of visits, saying he is excited to see the historic match come to the country he loves. The announcement of the Chennai fixture comes amid a recent shift in Indian sports policy, which saw New Delhi relax entry restrictions for Pakistani athletes earlier this May following cross-border military skirmishes earlier in 2025. Under the revised rules, individual Pakistani athletes can enter India to compete, though full Pakistani national teams are only permitted to participate in multi-nation tournaments.