Virat & co. to play 92 days less cricket in next FTP

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Big relief for the Indian cricket team. Image Source: twitter

Debasis Sen, Kolkata: Good news for Virat Kohli and co. as the Indian team is all set to play 92 days less cricket in next FTP i.e., 2019-23. BCCI in its proposed FTP programme to International Cricket Council (ICC), will be playing 309 days of cricket from 2019-2023, compared to 401 days in the last FTP.

The BCCI will play 19 test matches at home compared to 15 tests they took part in last FTP.

It was also decided that India will start their 2019 WC campaign on June 05, 2019 instead of June 02 against South Africa.The reason being the prescribed 15 days gap between the Indian Premier League (IPL) and ICC World Cup 2019. The next edition of IPL will start from March 29 and the final will take place on May 19. So, technically India can only start their campaign on June 04 if they abide by Lodha recommendation.

“The 2019 IPL will be played between March 29 and May 19. But we need to maintain a 15 day gap and World Cup starts on May 30. Therefore as per 15 day gap we could have only played on June 5. Earlier, we were scheduled to start on June 2 but we couldn’t have played on that day,” a source from BCCI told today.

“South Africa are our first opponents. The CEC agreed and the matter has been referred to ICC board,” he further added.

During the last World Cup in 2015 and Champions Trophy in 2017 India started their campaign against arch rivals Pakistan and ICC used to get a lot of revenue from it but this time it won’t happen. India will play Pakistan in ICC CWC 2019 at Old Trafford on June 16.

“This is the first time Indo-Pak match won’t be a starting affair. Since the format will be a round robin affair (all teams playing each other like 1992),” the official added.

Among the other decisions that were formalised included the FTP for the next five year cycle from 2019-23.

“As we had decided, India will play a maximum 309 days of international cricket in this cycle across formats, a reduction of 92 days from the earlier cycle.

“However the number of home Test matches will increase from 15 to 19. All these Tests will be part of World Test Championship,” he added.

BCCI has also decided not to play Day/Night test match against West Indies later this year. The Board has also made it clear about their reservation to play Day/Night test against Australia in Adelaide. The logic given by BCCI was the proposed ICC Test championship will not have any D/N Test matches. The Test Championship will start in July 2019.

“All matches in ICC World Test Championship are day matches played with red ball. If that’s the case, there is no point in playing pink ball Tests if it doesn’t help in preparation for World Test Championship,” he concluded.