THE International Cricket Council (ICC), on Wednesday, released the men’s Future Tours Programme for the 2023-2027 cycle, which includes a total of 777 international matches – 173 Tests, 281 ODIs and 323 T20Is – which will be a part of ICC events as well as bilateral and tri-nation series. The upcoming cycle for the 12 member nations will have a rise in the number of matches from 694 played in the latest cycle.

Barely any international cricket is scheduled from mid-March to end of May, the period during which BCCI will host the IPL. But Pakistan will host their season of PSL in 2025 at the same time – March to May. In the other years of the cycle, it will be held in-between December, January and February.

As reported earlier by Cricbuzz, the Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia will see a rise in the number of Tests from four to five in each series.
The last time the two sides had clashed in a five-match Test series was in 1992. Australia have also been scheduled to play a series (across all formats) against India and England every year of the cycle. England, Australia and India will feature in the most number of Test matches during the cycle, playing 22, 21 and 20 Tests respectively.

India’s cycle begins with the tour of West Indies next July (2 Tests, 3 ODIs, 2 T20Is). In December 2023, they embark on a full tour of South Africa. In January 2024, India will host England for five Tests.

They play Australia in an away series from November that year to January 2025, England in a series starting June 2025 and again versus Australia at home in January-February 2027. In mid-2026, India will host Afghanistan for a Test and three ODIs. The next four years will also see India play limited-overs fixtures against Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

The FTP features two cycles of the ICC World Test Championship, apart from four major men’s ICC events, starting with the 50-over World Cup next year in India.
West Indies and the USA will host the T20 World Cup in 2024, which will be followed by the return of the Champions Trophy in 2025 to be hosted by Pakistan. India and Sri Lanka will jointly host the T20 World Cup in 2026 followed by the 50-over World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in 2027.

India’s World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle will include home series against Bangladesh, England and New Zealand and away tours of Australia, South Africa and West Indies.
In the 2025-27 campaign, the fixtures will reverse as they are set to host Australia, South Africa and West Indies at home while touring England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
India and Pakistan will continue to not play each other in bilateral fixtures, even as Pakistan are set to go up against 10 out of the 12 member nations in the upcoming FTP cycle.

Pakistan will play 27 Tests, 47 ODIs and 56 T20Is in the four-year period, hosting Australia, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe, apart from the 2023 Asia Cup and a tri-nation series, including South Africa and New Zealand – the first to be hosted by PCB since 2004-05.

In 2023-24 season, Afghanistan are scheduled to play 6 Tests – 3 at home (2 vs Zimbabwe and 1 vs Ireland) and 3 away (2 vs Bangladesh and 1 vs Sri Lanka). In the following season, they will host Bangladesh and New Zealand for a combined three Tests and then travel to Zimbabwe and Ireland for three more.

They are also later scheduled to play Tests in India, Australia, West Indies and Ireland. Ireland, on the other hand, will play only 14 Tests in the next cycle – 4 each against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe , 3 against Bangladesh, and 1 each against Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand.

Wasim Khan, ICC’s General Manager of Cricket, said: “I’d like to thank our Members for the effort that has gone into creating this FTP for the next four years. We are incredibly lucky to have three vibrant formats of the game, with an outstanding programme of ICC global events and strong bilateral and domestic cricket and this FTP is designed to allow all cricket to flourish.

(Cricbuzz)