Mohali, Delhi among 9 cities to host Australia, South Africa matches: BCCI

Mohali will host the first T20I against Australia, while the series against South Africa will begin in Thiruvananthapuram

Mohali and Delhi are among nine Indian cities that will host back-to-back white-ball matches against Australia and South Africa, respectively, starting September 20, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said on Wednesday.

While India will play six T20 International games against Australia and South Africa, which will serve as a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup Down Under, a separate team will play three 50-over games against the Proteas, with Shikhar Dhawan as the captain.

Mohali will host the first T20I against Australia (September 20) with Nagpur (September 23) and Hyderabad (September 25) organising the second and third respectively.

The home series against South Africa will begin in Thiruvananthapuram on September 28.

The second T20I will be played on October 2 followed by the last game at Indore on October 4.

The action will shift to Lucknow on October 6 where the ODI series will get underway. Ranchi and Delhi will host the second and third ODI, respectively, on October 9 and 11, but the series won't have any World Cup-bound players.