Brisbane Heat have put their hand up to be one of the first teams to play a BBL game overseas and open this summer’s tournament in India.
Cricket Australia (CA) is understood to have received positive news in the past 24 hours in their quest to start the 2026-27 season in India.
The move would be designed to help increase interest in the Indian market, and also comes at a time when the privatisation of BBL teams remains up in the air.
The challenge now is to establish which two teams will be part of the action.
Brisbane Heat chief executive, Terry Svenson, said the Chennai move was a good initiative by CA that was backed by Queensland Cricket.
“We’ve had the opportunity to discuss this with CA and are supportive of the initiative,” Svenson said.
“The Brisbane Heat have been one of the competition’s best performing teams off the field with a strong international following through social media, so we look forward to further discussions with CA.”
Cricket Australia initially proposed internally they would explore taking the first game of the Big Bash overseas this summer.
They identified India and Chennai in particular as their preferred location.
In the past 24 hours, according to Indian media, it’s understood the Chennai governing body has approved it in principle and are waiting for the BCCI to sign off on it.
Several of the BBL franchises have indicated they would prefer to be the away team in Chennai rather than giving up a home game.
The Heat are one of those, also hoping to have their five allotted home games at the Gabba.
Melbourne’s Stars and Renegades are also interested, with Cricket Victoria chief executive Nick Cummins telling the Sydney Morning Herald: “We would love to be a part of that, and we would be happy to be the home team.”
The Sydney Thunder has links to Chennai through Ravichandran Ashwin, who signed for the club last year as the first Indian player in the BBL, before injury ruled him out. The club is hopeful of signing him again this year.
But there are also Pakistan players involved in the BBL and history shows getting them into India can be difficult.
Most BBL teams have had Pakistani players on their roster in the past, and the overseas player draft will be held later this year.