How to Watch Cricket in Australia: The Guide for Indian Fans

You have just landed in Australia, you open the app you have used your whole life to watch the cricket, and it will not play. That is the first small heartbreak of the move for a lot of Indian fans, and it is the reason this guide exists. The good news is that everything is still watchable here. You just need a new map, because the rights work completely differently on this side of the Indian Ocean.

The Hotstar problem, explained

JioHotstar — the merged service that brought JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar together — is built for the Indian domestic market and is not available in Australia. That is the single biggest source of confusion for new arrivals, so it is worth saying plainly: the subscription that showed you every match back home does not carry over here, and there is no legitimate way to make it. Cricket in Australia is sold to different broadcasters entirely, and once you know who holds what, following the game is straightforward again.

The Australian streaming map

Here is who actually shows cricket to viewers in Australia. Between these services, almost everything an Indian fan wants to watch is covered.

• Kayo Sports and Fox Cricket are the workhorses. They hold the Australian rights to cricket played in Australia (all the internationals, the BBL and the WBBL), to Australia's away tours — including the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India in 2027 — and to IPL and WPL coverage in Australia. If you are going to pay for one thing, this is usually it.
• Seven and 7plus carry free-to-air coverage of the Australian home summer and selected BBL matches. It costs nothing, but note the limit: free-to-air does not cover Australia's away tours, so it will not show you India-hosted series.
• Prime Video holds the ICC rights in Australia through the end of 2027, under a four-year deal. That is where global ICC events live here — it carried the T20 World Cup 2026, and it will carry the ODI World Cup 2027 and the World Test Championship Final in June 2027.
• YuppTV is widely used across the Indian community in Australia for Indian TV channels. Which cricket it carries varies by series and tournament, so check the current listings rather than assuming — it is a useful option to keep in your back pocket, especially for series shown on Indian networks.

What is actually coming up

This is the runway for India and Australia fans right now, soonest first. Where a fixture is not yet locked in, we say so — cricket schedules and rights deals change, and we would rather under-promise.

• India tour of New Zealand (Confirmed)
  22 October – 1 December 2026 · New Zealand (Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga) · 5 T20Is, 5 ODIs, 2 Tests
  Watching in Australia: Check current rights closer to the series — NZ home internationals in Australia have typically screened on pay TV/streaming. New Zealand match times are friendly for Australian viewers (NZ runs 2 hours ahead of AEDT).
• WBBL 2026-27 — Indian stars in Australia (To be confirmed)
  Late October – early December 2026 (season window TBC) · Australia (all major cities) · Women's T20 league
  Watching in Australia: Fox Cricket / Kayo, with selected matches free-to-air on Seven in recent seasons. India's top women (Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and others) have been regular WBBL signings. 2026-27 fixture list and squads not yet published — dates above are the typical season window, not confirmed fixtures.
• Border-Gavaskar Trophy — Australia tour of India (Confirmed)
  21 January – 3 March 2027 · India (Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi, Ahmedabad) · 5 Tests
  Watching in Australia: Fox Cricket / Kayo (Australian rights to Australia’s away tours). The marquee India–Australia moment of this cycle. Play starts mid-afternoon AEDT — genuinely watchable evenings from Australia.
• World Test Championship Final (Not yet confirmed)
  June 2027 · Lord's, London · 1 Test
  Watching in Australia: Prime Video holds ICC rights in Australia through the end of 2027. India sit top of the current WTC table but are NOT yet qualified — this is a possible India fixture, not a confirmed one.
• ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2027 (Confirmed)
  4 October – 21 November 2027 · South Africa, Zimbabwe & Namibia · ODI tournament
  Watching in Australia: Prime Video (ICC rights in Australia through the end of 2027). India and Australia both expected to feature; squads and match schedule not yet announced.
• ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2028 — in Australia (Confirmed)
  21 October – 19 November 2028 · Australia & New Zealand (co-hosts) · T20I tournament
  Watching in Australia: Australian rights not yet announced — the current Prime Video ICC deal ends in 2027. The next confirmed chance to see India play on Australian soil. India arrive as defending champions (won the 2026 T20 World Cup). Venues and schedule not yet announced.

One thing to clear up, because the search results get it wrong: there is no India men's bilateral tour of Australia currently scheduled. India's big tour in late 2026 is of New Zealand, not Australia — some listings mislabel old fixtures, so ignore any “India in Australia 2026” headline. The next confirmed time India play on Australian soil is the T20 World Cup 2028.

Watching times from Australia

The timezone maths is friendlier than you might fear. India runs about four and a half hours behind Australian Eastern Standard Time, and five and a half hours behind Australian Eastern Daylight Time in summer. In practice, a Test in India that starts around 9:30am local time begins near 3:00pm on the east coast during daylight saving. That means India-hosted cricket is afternoon-and-evening viewing here — no all-nighters, no 3am alarms. You can watch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after work with dinner, which is exactly how it should be.

Going in person

Watching is one thing; being in the ground is another. As above, there is no India tour of Australia on the calendar, so the next confirmed chance to see India play here is the T20 World Cup 2028, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 21 October to 19 November 2028. India arrive as defending champions, having won the 2026 title, so tickets for their matches will move fast.

The genuine way to get ahead of that rush is Cricket Australia's free CricketPlus membership. Members get pre-sale access, with codes emailed roughly 48 hours before public sales open. Sign up directly at Cricket Australia well before you need it — we will never pretend to beat the official alerts, so the membership is the real edge.

There is also cricket to attend much sooner. The WBBL runs from late October to early December 2026, in cities across Australia, and India's top women have been regular signings in the league in recent seasons. The 2026-27 squads are not final yet, so we will name players once the signings are official — but a WBBL night is a great, affordable way to watch elite cricket in person while you wait for the bigger tournaments.

Find watch parties in your city

Cricket is better with other people shouting at the same screen. The India.com.au cricket hub pulls together what is on for the community, and each city has its own page — Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra — with the local watch parties and screenings for the big matches. Our city WhatsApp channels are the fastest way to hear when a venue is showing a game near you, and you can follow along below. Subscribe and you will not miss the next India match on the big screen.

For a deeper look at the marquee series of this cycle, read our companion guide to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2027, with venues, viewing times and where to watch from Australia.