India will meet South Africa in its 2019 cricket World Cup opening match on June 5 in order to comply with the Lodha Committee recommendation of maintaining a 15-day gap between the Indian Premier League (IPL) and an international event.
The IPL will be held from March 29 to May 19 next year (apparently owing to general elections), while the World Cup will be staged in the UK from May 30 to June 14.
Since the proposed schedule, which pitted India against Pakistan on June 2, would have violated the Lodha Committee recommendation, the BCCI took up the matter at the International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executives’ meeting here on Tuesday and ensured that the country began its campaign on June 5.
According to a BCCI official, the matter has been referred to the ICC Board for ratification.
In recent times, India and Pakistan have faced each other in their opening encounters of ICC events, including the 2015 World Cup in Australia and the 2017 Champions Trophy in the UK. The 2016 World T20 was an exception as India played first against New Zealand.
Following the tweak in the schedule, India and Pakistan will clash at Manchester, on June 16, the official said.
The 2019 World Cup will witness a change in format with the participating teams, reduced from 14 to 10, playing each other in a round robin league.
2019-23 FTP
The round-robin format (involving nine teams) was used last in 1992, when World Cup was played for the first time in coloured clothing. Besides, the Future Tours Programme, which was formalised for the 2019-2023 period, ensured less workload for the Indian cricketers.
“India will play a maximum 309 days of international cricket across all formats. It is a reduction of 92 days from the earlier cycle. However, the number of home Tests will increase from 15 to 19.”
Since pink ball Tests are not taken into consideration for the ICC World Test Championship, India will not play any day-night Tests in the near future.
