BCCI demands ICC to reserve Oct-Nov and Feb-Mar slots for India’s home season

While various international cricket boards are busy making schedules for the upcoming year, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has conveyed to the International Cricket Council (ICC) that it wants the time slots of October-November and February-March reserved only for the domestic international season.

It was during a meeting in New Delhi, when Geoff Allardice, the ICC’s General Manager was called for a discussion when the BCCI explained its position on the sidelines of the India- New Zealand T20 International on November 1. It was also suggested that that the other country members would now have to adjust accordingly.

The BCCI has also stated that it is eyeing on having longer series against Australia, South Africa, and England, while India will play a minimum of two Tests and three ODIs against other countries. The ICC approved rules state that the Test series league will see nine teams play six series over two years – three home games and three away – with each having a minimum of two Tests and a maximum of five.

In the ODI league, each side will get to play four home and four away series each comprising three ODIs. The Test championship will start in June 2019 and the ODI league begins in 2020, which makes scheduling things all the more complicated for the various cricket boards.

BCCI’s move will surely not go down well with different boards but their exact response will come to the fore when ICC conducts its workshop on the schedule called the boards for a conclave in Dubai on December 7.

The Indian board occupies half the year of world cricket, which has been a source of resistance from other resistances for quite some time. During the two-month window of April-May, when the IPL takes place, there is hardly any international cricket barring in England and sometimes in West Indies. Apart from that, September has already been kept free for the now-defunct Champions League Twenty20.

Though the Indian board has kept Pakistan in their loop they are not on their current schedule, which has been Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) primary demand. The BCCI has kept a window open after it gets the permission from the Government of India.