Indian cricket team will play over 200 matches, more than any other team, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on June 20 as it released the Future Tours Program for the 2018-2023 cycle.
The Indian team will also host 102 games. Barring Pakistan and Ireland, all Test-playing nations will be touring the cricket-crazy country, the ICC said.
India will also travel to the West Indies for the much-talked-about inaugural ICC World Test Championship in July 2019.
“India will play a two-Test series in the Caribbean as part of the WTC,” the ICC said in a statement.
Overall, nine top-ranked sides will participate in the inaugural edition of the WTC, which will take place from July 15, 2019, to April 30, 2021.
The West Indies series will take place right after the 2019 ODI World Cup and the tour will also comprise of three ODIs and as many T20Is. India will also host West Indies for three Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is later this year.
India’s second opponent in the WTC will be South Africa whom they will host for three Tests in October 2019. That will be followed by another one against Bangladesh, who will travel to India for two Tests and three T20 Internationals.
The 2018-23 FTP provides the schedule of the new 13-team ODI league, which will be the pathway for qualification to the 2023 @cricketworldcup.
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— ICC (@ICC) June 20, 2018
India’s next couple of series in WTC will take place in New Zealand (two Tests) and Australia (four Tests) in 2020-2021 before they play England in a five-match Test series at home.
The WTC series against New Zealand in 2020 will have Tests but no five-day games are scheduled when India travel to play the Black Caps next year.
Expectedly, India and Pakistan are not scheduled to play in the WTC but they could still meet in the final. In total, India will play 18 Tests in WTC and 12 of them will be against Australia, South Africa and England.
India will travel to Sri Lanka in June 2020 for their first series in the ODI League. The league will serve as a qualifier to the 2023 World Cup.
Hosts India plus the seven highest-ranked sides in the ODI league as on March 31, 2022, will qualify directly for the 2023 World Cup, while the bottom five sides will get a second chance to qualify through the ICC World Cup Qualifier.
(WITH PTI INPUTS)
