Tests will be played by England, India, and Australia
The 2023–2027 cycle’s men’s Futur Tours Program was unveiled by the International Cricket Council on Wednesday between England, India, Australia. It includes 777 international matches, including bilateral and tri-national series in addition to 173 Tests, 281 ODIs, and 323 T20Is.
There aren’t many international cricket matches scheduled between mid-March and the end of May, when BCCI will be hosting the IPL. In the other years of the cycle, it will occur in the months of December, January, and February.
The number of Test matches in each series of the India-Australia Border-Gavaskar would increase from four to five. The two sides’ most recent five-match Test series took place in 1992. Every year of the cycle, Australia is also slated to play a series (across all forms) against India and England. With 22, 21, and 20 Tests each, England, Australia, and India will participate in the most Test matches throughout the cycle.
Beginning in July of next year, India will travel the West Indies (2 Tests, 3 ODIs, 2 T20Is). They start their extensive tour of South Africa in December 2023. India will host England for five Test matches in January 2024. They play England in a series beginning in June 2025, Australia again at home in January-February 2027, and an away series against Australia from November of that year through January of 2025.
India will host Afghanistan for a Test and three ODIs in the middle of 2026. Over the following four years, India will also compete in limited-overs games against Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies.
The FTP includes four main men’s ICC tournaments, including the 50-over World Cup in India next year, in addition to two cycles of the ICC World Test Championship.
The West Indies and the United States will host the T20 World Cup in 2024, while the Champions Trophy will then return in 2025. Pakistan will host. The T20 World Cup will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in 2026, while the 50-over World Cup will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia in 2027.
India will play home games against Bangladesh, England, and New Zealand during the 2023–25 World Test Championship cycle, as well as away games against Australia, South Africa, and the West Indies. The schedule will be reversed during the 2025–27 season as they will go to England, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka while hosting Australia, South Africa, and the West Indies at home.
Even though Pakistan is scheduled to compete against 10 of the 12 member countries in the forthcoming FTP cycle, India and Pakistan will still not face one another in bilateral matches. Apart from the 2023 Asia Cup and a tri-nation series with South Africa and New Zealand, Pakistan will host Australia, Afghanistan, Ireland, and Zimbabwe throughout the four-year period’s 27 Tests, 47 ODIs, and 56 T20Is. This would be the first tri-nation series that PCB has hosted since 2004–2005.
Afghanistan is slated to play 6 tests in the 2023–24 season, 3 at home (two against Zimbabwe and one against Ireland) and three away (2 vs Bangladesh and 1 vs Sri Lanka). They will host Bangladesh and New Zealand for a total of three Tests the next season before leaving for three more Tests in Zimbabwe and Ireland.
Later on, they are expected to play Test matches in Ireland, West Indies, Australia, and India. Ireland, on the other hand, will only play 14 Tests in the upcoming cycle, including 1 each against Sri Lanka, England, and New Zealand, 3 against Bangladesh, and 4 against each of Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh.
Cricket at the ICC’s General Manager, Wasim Khan, stated: “I’d want to express my gratitude to our Members for their contributions to the creation of this FTP for the upcoming four years.
