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 shows cricket to viewers in Australia. Rights are sold competition by competition — Australia's home summer, ICC tournaments, overseas tours and franchise leagues are all separate deals — so pick the competition first, then the subscription.

• Kayo Sports and Fox Cricket are Cricket Australia's pay-TV partner through 2030-31: every men's home Test, ODI and T20I, every women's home international, and every BBL and WBBL match. Men's home ODIs and T20Is are exclusive to Foxtel and Kayo.
• Seven and 7plus are the free-to-air partner: every men's home Test, every women's home international, and selected BBL and WBBL matches. Seven's deal does not include the men's home ODIs and T20Is.
• 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.
• India home series, Australia's overseas tours, IPL and WPL are sold separately from all of the above. Check the current Australian rights announcement for that specific series or season before you subscribe — this guide does not assume who has them.

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|12 — fixtures and Australian viewing (Confirmed)
  29 October – 5 December 2026 · Australia (all major cities) · Women's T20 league
  Watching in Australia: Every match on Kayo Sports / Fox Cricket (20 of them exclusive), with 20 regular-season matches plus every final free on Seven / 7plus. 43 games, 29 Oct – 5 Dec 2026, opening with a Junction Oval double-header in Melbourne. Cricket Australia's 9 Oct 2026 squad roundup lists no Indian international signed for WBBL|12 (Jemimah Rodrigues is listed among Brisbane Heat's departures). Name a player only once a club confirms a signing.
• Border-Gavaskar Trophy — Australia tour of India (Confirmed)
  21 January – 3 March 2027 · India (Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi, Ahmedabad) · 5 Tests
  Watching in Australia: Australian broadcaster not yet announced — CA’s Foxtel and Seven deals are for cricket played in Australia, so wait for confirmation before subscribing. 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 · England (exact venue not yet confirmed — recent finals have rotated between Southampton, The Oval and Lord's) · 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 has confirmed England as host for 2027/2029/2031 finals but not yet named the venue.
• 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

India runs four and a half hours behind Brisbane (AEST) and five and a half hours behind Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart during daylight saving (AEDT, early October to early April). Adelaide is five hours ahead of India in summer and Perth (no daylight saving) two and a half hours ahead.

Day matches are the easy ones. A Test in India that starts at 9:30am local time begins at 3:00pm in Sydney and Melbourne in summer, 2:00pm in Brisbane and noon in Perth, so you can follow the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after work. Night matches are a different story: a 7:00pm start in India is 12:30am the next day in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra during daylight saving, midnight in Adelaide, 11:30pm in Brisbane and 9:30pm in Perth. For an evening T20I in India, check your own city's date as well as the time.

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 to sign up for the official ticketing alerts and pre-sale programmes well before you need them. Each pre-sale has its own terms and timing, so read the official announcement for the tournament rather than relying on a rule of thumb — we will never pretend to beat the official alerts.

There is also cricket to attend much sooner. The WBBL runs from late October to early December 2026, in cities across Australia. India's top women have played in the league in past seasons, but Cricket Australia's October 2026 squad roundup does not list an Indian international signed for WBBL|12, so we will only name players once a club confirms a signing. A WBBL game is still a great 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.