The Indian cricket team’s schedule is set to be jam-packed, as usual, there will be no bilateral series vs Pakistan due to political reason
The new ICC men’s FTP (Future Tours Programme) has more bilateral international cricket scheduled for the next four years despite the tremendous and continuous growth of T20 leagues around the world. This features two Border-Gavaskar series between Australia and India, the most prominent rivalry in Test cricket over the past ten or so years, which will be played across five Tests for the first time in over 30 years.
The 2024–27 men’s FTP, which was issued by the ICC on Wednesday, calls for the 12 Full Members to compete in a total of 777 international games, including 173 Tests, 281 ODIs, and 323 T20 Internationals, as compared to the 694 matches they currently play.
In T20I, West Indies play most bilateral matches (73) followed by India (61), Afghanistan (57), Bangladesh (57), New Zealand (57), Pakistan (56), Sri Lanka (54), England (51), Australia (49), Ireland (47), South Africa (46) and Zimbabwe (45).
Additionally, Bangladesh will play the most ODI bilateral (59), followed by Sri Lanka (52), Ireland (51), England (48), West Indies (48), Pakistan (47), New Zealand (46), Afghanistan (45), Zimbabwe (44), Australia (43), India (42) and South Africa (39).
England has the most number of Test cricket matches (43), followed by Australia (40), India (38), Bangladesh (34), New Zealand (32), South Africa (28), Pakistan (27), the West Indies (26), Sri Lanka (25), Afghanistan (21), Zimbabwe (20), and Ireland (12).
The ICC announced on Wednesday that the Indian men’s side will compete in 138 bilateral international matches throughout the course of the upcoming FTP cycle, which runs from May 2024 to April 2027.
The “Men In Blue,” the most favored team commercially, will play 38 Tests, 39 ODIs, and 61 T20Is during a four-year span, and their prominence on the shortest format is a sign of the shifting priorities across formats.
Over the following four years, more space will be provided for the Indian Premier League. The new FTP cycle gives the independently managed IPL, the biggest and wealthiest Twenty20 league in the world, a prolonged window in April and May with little international cricket planned during this time.
In 2025, the PSL, Pakistan’s top domestic T20 league, will clash against the IPL. That’s because Pakistan has busy international commitments, starting in late 2024 with tours of Australia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and New Zealand before hosting the tri-series in February. The Champions Trophy is also played in Pakistan, and it will end in March 2025.
When India tours Australia in the Australian summer of 2024–2025, the first five-match Border-Gavaskar series will take place during the 2024–25 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, which used to be a four-match affair for a long time.
Australia will next play five Test matches in India in January and February 2027 as part of the 2025–2027 World Test Championship cycle. India will also face England in two five-match series, one at home in early 2024 and the second on the tour in 2025.
Before the upcoming October–November 2024 50-over World Cup in India, the Indian men’s FTP side will compete in 27 ODI matches.
India’s series against Zimbabwe in Harare begins the 27 ODIs from today. The majority of the 27 ODIs are from the previous FTP cycle, which also included a home series against South Africa across three matches and an away series against New Zealand right after the T20 World Cup.
Every year of this cycle will also have an ICC men’s FTP event, the first time that has happened since the 2011-2015 FTP – starting with the 2024 ODI World Cup in India, the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA, the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan, the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, and the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
