T20s get a fillip in FTP

India will host 81 matches across formats from 2019-2023, 30 more than the previous Future Tours Programme, but the number of playing days for the ever-busy cricketers will come down with the BCCI on Monday deciding to prune the Test schedule against lesser-ranked teams.

The revised FTP was agreed upon unanimously at the Board's Special General Body Meeting (SGM) — a move that will see India playing more Tests against Australia, England and South Africa but also addressing captain Virat Kohli's complaints on player fatigue.

A working group, comprising all three office-bearers, will take a final call on this.

"Earlier, the proposed FTP for the five year cycle (2019-2023) had 51 matches across three formats. The new proposal has 81 home matches in that cycle," acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary told mediapersons after the meeting.

Chaudhary said that match days at home will go down by 20 percent, there is a marked 60 percent increase in matches at home. However, the series against lesser-ranked teams will come down, a top official said on condition of anonymity.

While the break-up was not provided, Chaudhary's brief made it clear that India will be playing an increased number of T20 Internationals at home while the bulk of big Test series will be against Australia, England and South Africa.

The format likely to be hit most will be bilateral ODIs.

"Half of our home games, we will play against the big three — Australia, South Africa and England," Chaudhary said.

When asked that whether if it means that only four nations will play more Tests against each other, Chaudhary said: "You can say so."

Asked how Kohli's fatigue issue has been addressed, Chaudhary said: "During the 2015 to 2019, the Indian team, across formats (home and abroad), had 390 playing days. The new proposal between 2019 to 2023 will see them playing 306 days."

This effectively means from an average 97.5 days during the earlier cycle, Kohli and Co. Will play 76.5 days at the max during the next cycle.

"This excludes the ICC Champions Trophy and Cricket World Cup, both of which will be hosted by India in 2021 and 2023 respectively," he added.

The new FTP has been chalked out in order to ensure that BCCI can get a good broadcast deal when it's up for grabs from October 2018. The current broadcast rights with Star Sports ends in March 2018.

Among other issues, the BCCI decided to continue its legal fight against the defunct Kochi Tuskers, who recently won a compensation claim to the tune of Rs 850 crore.

"An arbitration was awarded to Kochi, which was challenged by BCCI. However, we had interaction with the erstwhile franchise on whether we could come to an out of court settlement.

"We then put the matter to our legal team. We have decided we must not settle this out of court. We will continue with legal procedure," the Secretary said.

The conditional revocation of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) happened on expected lines with a rider given to them that former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who is under a life ban from the BCCI, won't come back in the association in any capacity.

Also, the members were apprised of the letters written by the Sports Ministry and NADA about having BCCI as a signatory. The house was unanimous that there was no need to come under NADA fold despite the body's active demand to carry out dope tests of the cricketers.

"We have told them that we have a robust system in place and we are already WADA compliant. Also our testing is done at the same NDTL lab where samples collected by NADA is tested," he said.

Afghans to play 1st Test in India

The BCCI on Monday rolled out the red carpet for war-ravaged Afghanistan by agreeing to host the country's maiden Test match but chose to cold-shoulder a cricket-starved Pakistan in its latest Future Tours Programme (FTP).

Afghanistan, a team that has made rapid strides in international cricket despite the constant troubles back home, will play its first ever Test against India in 2019-2020, the final schedule for which will be worked out later.

On the other hand, Pakistan, which has been demanding bilateral cricket with India, was ignored at the Special General Meeting which resolved to play more against the likes of Australia, South Africa and England. India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket since 2012 due to political tensions between the two neighbours.

When asked why the new FTP does not say anything about playing Pakistan, BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary replied, "It's a question not embedded only to cricket and the BCCI but everybody. So, it's futile attempting to answer the question."

Afghanistan earned the Test status, alongside Ireland this June, realising their five-day cricket dream after impressive performances in ODIs and T20 Internationals.

"Afghans were scheduled to play their first Test in 2019 versus Australia but considering the historic relationship between India and Afghanistan, we decided to host their first Test," said BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary after the Special General Meeting here on Monday.

Atif Mashal, Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) chairman, was quick to thank the BCCI for the gesture.

"@ACBofficials and @BCCI have agreed that Afghanistan will play its first Test against India. The exact date and venue of the match will be shared in a joint press conference in due course. I personally thank BCCI board for the decision," Mashal tweeted.

Afghanistan and Ireland were made full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in June, becoming the sport's 11th and 12h Test-playing nations.

Besides welcoming them into five-day cricket, the BCCI has extended a helping hand to Afghanistan on a number of occasions.

The team from the war-ravaged nation has hosted its home games in India, most recently the series against Ireland in Greater Noida.

Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi became the first two Afghanistan cricketers to be bought at the IPL auction earlier this year. Afghanistan have come a long way since making its World T20 debut in 2010. They are ranked ninth in the shortest format and 11th in the 50-over format.

After featuring regularly in the World T20, the Afghans made the 50-over World Cup debut in 2015.

They played six games in the tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand with their sole win coming against Scotland.