Debasis Sen, Johannesburg: Virat Kohli and his team will be playing 30 ODIs as part of preparation for the 2019 World Cup in England. The men in blue will also play 12 test matches and twenty one T20I’s in the upcoming season starting with the tour of England.
India’s ongoing season (2017-18) will come to an end with the Nidahas Tri-Nation T20 tournament in Sri Lanka (Bangladesh, being the third team).
While the Indian cricket calender starts in April with the cash-rich Indian Premier League, the national team will start its campaign in June with a short two-match T20 series against Ireland.
In the same month, they will host Afghanistan in Bengaluru for the historic one-off Test.
The two and half month tour of England will see Kohli and his team playing 3 ODI’s & T20I’s followed by 5 test matches. The tour will start in July and go on until mid September.
The Indian team will host West Indies for test matches, five ODI’s & three T20I’s in October-November. Following the series against West Indies, Kohli and co. will next travel Down Under to play Australia in four Tests, three T20 Internationals and three ODIs in November-December. The Indian team will straightaway fly to New Zealand from Australia. They will play five ODI’s & similar number of T20I’s from the middle of January to February.
In the second half of February, Australia will come to India for a limited overs series where they will play five ODIs and two T20 Internationals.
The season will culminate with a series against Zimbabwe where the Indian team will take part in three T20I’s.
There is a window for the Asia Cup (this edition will be 50 overs) keeping in mind the World Cup but the date and the venue is yet to be finalised.
Fixture for Indian cricket team during 2018-19 season
June 2018: vs Ireland (2 T20I) (Away)
June 2018: vs Afghanistan (1 Test) (Home)
July-September 2018: vs England (5 Tests, 3 ODI, 3 T20I) (Away)
September 2018: Asia Cup (Approx 9 ODIs) (Venue and Date yet to be finalised)
October-November 2018: vs West Indies (2 Tests, 5 ODIs, 3 T20I) (Home)
November-December 2018: vs Australia (4 Tests, 3 ODIs, 3 T20I) (Away)
January-February 2019: vs New Zealand (5 ODIs, 5 T20I) (Away)
February-March 2019: vs Australia (5 ODI, 2 T20I) (Home)
March 2019: vs Zimbabwe (3 T20I) (Home)