The International Cricket Council on Wednesday announced the men's 2023-27 Future Tours Programme (FTP) schedule. Australia are set to host India for a five-Test series and then another five-Test series will be played between the two countries in India later on. This will be the first time since 1992 that the two teams play a five-match series. Recently, India and Australia series have comprised of four Tests. The Ashes and the India-England Test series will be the other five-match affairs in the format.
England will play the most Tests in the cycle - 22. Australia will play 21 Tests in the period, while India will play 20.
There are also five ICC events in the cycle, starting with the 2023 World Cup in India.
The 2024 T20 World Cup will be held in the West Indies and USA, while 2025 will see defending champions Pakistan host the Champions Trophy.
India and Sri Lanka will jointly host the 2026 T20 World Cup, while the 2027 World Cup will be held across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
"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," ICC General Manager of Cricket Wasim Khan was quoted as saying.
In total, there will be 777 international matches in the 2023-27 FTP cycle. There will be 73 Tests, 291 ODIs and 323 T20Is. The current FTP cycle has 694 matches scheduled.