The Border-Gavaskar trophy, the high-profile Test series between India and Australia, is going to comprise 5 games in the ICC’s next Future Tour Programme (FTP), i.e., between May 2023 and April 2027. It will be the first time since 1992 that both nations will play a series of 5 Test matches.
According to ESPNcricinfo, India will travel to Australia in December and January 2024-25 to play 5 Tests. Whereas the return series will be played in India in early 2027. These two tours will hence be a part of the next two ICC World Test Championship cycles – 2023-25 and 2025-27 respectively.
India will also play two 5-match Test series against England. In early 2024, they will host the English team and will tour the United Kingdom the following year. While the homes series will be a part of the 2023-25 WTC cycle, the games in England will fall under the 2025-27 WTC cycle.
It has also been learned that India will be playing a total of 38 Tests. Only Bangladesh (34) and New Zealand (32) have more than 30 Tests on their calendar. Besides playing against Australia and England, India will also indulge in a three-Test series at home against New Zealand in October-November 2024. The rest of the WTC series for India have two Tests only.
Back in 2018-19, India won their first-ever Test series Down Under. After defeating Australia 2-1, Virat Kohli’s team became the first Asian nation to win a Test series on Australian soil. A couple of years later, amid the absence of key players in the side, a depleted Indian team registered a historic 3-wicket win at Gabba to defeat the Aussies 2-1.
Meanwhile, reports have also claimed that ICC’s upcoming FTP would offer a larger window for the conduct of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The duration of the league could extend up to two and a half months and this will also reflect in ICC’s FTP cycle.
IPL 2022 had the most number of matches. Between 2014 and 2021, the league was played between eight teams and had 60 matches per season. As per BCCI, the numbers are only going to increase from 74 games in 2023 and 2024 to 84 in 2025 and 2026 and then to 94 in 2027.
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