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Delhi: In the eyes of most experts, the Ashes is the biggest match in the world of cricket. When exactly 100 days were left for the Ashes to begin, the countdown officially began. The eagerness to watch the test of this series is such that when the ticket sales started, more than half of the tickets were sold on the very first day. Some special facts to the series:

Series Full Name: NRMA Insurance Ashes Series

How the countdown to 100 started: A special 100-day countdown clock started in Perth’s Yagan Square (home to the first Test of the series), while Ashes hero Scott Boland presented a pop-up cricket demo to cricket fans in Melbourne’s Queensbridge Square.

How long is the series: There are 5 blockbuster tests in this traditional series against England.

Who has the ashes at this time: Australia has held the Ashes since 2017–18. The last series between the two teams was in England in 2023 which was a 2-2 draw.

What to expect this time: A new hope has arisen in England and they believe that they can win the Ashes with the captain-coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

Series Programme: The Ashes match will start from the new Optus Stadium in Perth. The sequence of playing the first Test at Gabba in Brisbane ended. There, England have not won any Test since November 1986 and due to this they have often had very poor starts in the Ashes. Perth’s stadium is hosting its first Ashes Test.

There is a second test at Gabba in Brisbane which will be day-night. This will be the first Pink Ball Ashes Test on this ground. In the last two series, Tests were played with pink ball at Adelaide Oval. This time this stadium has been chosen for the test before Christmas. The Boxing Day Test will end at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the series will end at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

series schedule

Test start time: The first Test is from 21st November and as per the time change from 26th October, the Test in Perth will start at 2.30 pm UK but that does not make any difference. Those waiting for the Ashes are ready to watch the game on TV. After that, the starting time of the game will vary depending on the city of the test. Indian cricket lovers will start their day with cricket in the Ashes. Note the time:

Practice matches in the series: This time there is no tour match and in the name of preparation for the Ashes, the England team played three T20 and three ODIs in New Zealand. The visiting team is expected to play its only red ball cricket match before the Perth Test, between two teams made up of players from its own team. Today no one will be able to believe that the England team was out of action for almost five months during the Ashes tour of 1936-37.

Captain: The biggest blow for host Australia is that strike bowler Pat Cummins is out of the first Test and possibly a large part of the series due to a back injury. In his absence Steve Smith became the captain again. England captain Ben Stokes.

Ashes series record

What the record says: Since the Second World War, only 5 visiting England teams have won a Test series in Australia. The last time was in 2010-11 and since then England have not even won a single Test, leave alone winning a series in Australia. Even England has not won any series at home since their win at home in 2015. Play for the Ashes began in 1882–83 and since then, out of 73 series, Australia has won 34 and England 32 and drawn 7.

Since 1980, England have won the Ashes in Australia only twice, in 1986–87 and 2010–11. This gives an idea of ​​how difficult it is to win in Australia. If this series is drawn then the Ashes will remain with Australia.

According to the betting market, who will win the Ashes this time: In terms of expectations of victory, the odds are 4/6 for Australia and 9/5 for England, while the odds for a draw are 8/1.

With whom does the audience support: This time it is believed that England will also get support from the spectators because a record is being made that one out of every six tickets has been bought by a British cricket lover. In the last Australian cricket season, the 5 Tests against India were very popular and a new record of viewership in any non-Ashes series was created (837879 viewers), whereas this time this record is expected to be broken. The 5 Tests of the 2017-18 Ashes had 866732 spectators while the 2021-22 series was affected by Covid.

Where to watch Ashes 2025-26 matches in India: Live broadcast on Star Sports Network while live streaming on Jio Hotstar app and website.