Last Updated on 4 years ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: India-Australia to play 5-Match Test series from next FTP cycle | How many Tests will the Border Gavaskar Trophy be?
The India-Australia Test series will be a five-match affair from the next cycle of the Future Tours Program (FTP) of the International Cricket Council (ICC). This expanded tour will commence from India’s tour Down Under in the 2024 season. Australia’s upcoming series in India in February-March 2023 will continue to be a four-game contest.
The Australian recently reported that Cricket Australia (CA) will receive a boost from this development given that they are set to kick off negotiations on a new broadcast deal soon.
Four Tests are worth $400 million to the CA as per the most recent agreement. An additional five-day game vs India every four years is expected to add significantly to the board’s broadcast revenues.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy to be 5 Tests in next FTP cycle
India and Australia have played five-match Test series on five occasions in the past and the last one of those was held in 1991-92. The two sides also played out a six-game series back in 1979-80.
Several cricketing boards are in the process of finalising the next cycle of the FTP that will initiate post the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 final next year. The FTP is likely to be approved in the upcoming annual conference of the ICC in Birmingham, Cricbuzz reports.
Prior to that, Australia’s four-match Test series in India early on next year holds immense importance. It will be instrumental for the qualifying chances of both the sides for the WTC finale. As of now, Australia and India sit at the second and fifth spot in the WTC standings respectively.
The Aussies will also be playing out a limited-overs series in India before the World T20 Down Under later on this year. Their schedule in September-October will include three T20Is and ODIs each. However, there are still apprehensions over the ODIs given that the T20 World Cup will start off from the second-half of October 2022.
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