Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said the board would be open to exploring the possibility of staging the 150th anniversary Ashes Test in India, underscoring the growing importance of the Indian market for world cricket. Australia and England are scheduled to play a one-off Test in March next year to commemorate 150 years of the historic Ashes rivalry. While there are no current plans to take the match outside of Australia, Greenberg admitted that the idea of hosting it in India could be considered in the future. His comments come at a time when Cricket Australia is expanding its footprint in India. In December, the Big Bash League will stage a match in Chennai, where Melbourne Renegades will face Perth Scorchers, marking another step in bringing Australian cricket closer to Indian fans. The prospect of an Ashes Test in India also reflects the commercial significance of the country’s cricket market. India remains the sport’s largest audience, and hosting a branded competition between Australia and England will generate enormous interest while creating new business opportunities. Greenberg said Cricket Australia would not rule out the idea, citing its strong links with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). “We have to be open to considering all options,” Greenberg told the BBC’s Stumped podcast. “Our relationship with the ECB, but also the BCCI, is very strong. And clearly, there are opportunities in India to put more content in certain areas. It is not something that we are planning today, but it would certainly be open for consideration.” India’s influence on the global cricket economy has continued to grow in recent years. The ECB, for example, is expected to post substantial profits from the eight white-ball internationals it recently hosted against India, despite England winning six of those matches. The financial returns are expected to exceed what the board anticipates from staging the men’s and women’s Ashes series next year. Despite his openness to the proposal, Greenberg acknowledged that planning a five-day Ashes Test in India would be far from straightforward. The Indian calendar is already packed with international cricket and the IPL, which is expected to start earlier than usual next year to avoid the extreme heat towards the end of May. Finding a suitable window for another marked event would therefore be a major challenge. “I think that Test cricket between us, England and India, is still very strong, probably bucking the trend like in other parts of the world. So we want to make sure that we continue to grow and strengthen. “The challenge for all of us in global cricket is that there are only 365 days in a calendar, and we probably need another month or two if we can really generate the content we want,” he said.