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India to play 90 Tests in eight years

June 28, 2011 19:47 IST

India will play 90 Tests and 166 ODIs during the eight-year span of the Future Tours Programme, from 2012 to 20.

The number of Tests are fewer than what England and Australia will play in the eight-year period, though the World champions will be the busiest team in One-Day Internationals.

The FTP has a clear division among Test-playing countries, with England, Australia and India scheduled to play the most Tests, followed by Sri Lanka and South Africa.

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England will play 99 matches over the next eight years, Australia 92. Sri Lanka and South Africa will play 76 and 74 Tests respectively. They are followed by the West Indies and New Zealand with 66 Tests each and Pakistan 65, followed by Bangladesh (42) and Zimbabwe (41).

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The ODIs are more evenly distributed. India will play 89 away ODIs in 166 matches. Zimbabwe have the fewest at 64, of which 37 are at home. All other countries play between 100 and 160 games.

In the Twenty20 format, most teams are scheduled to play between 30 to 55 matches.

Apart from England and Australia playing five-Test Ashes, India's tours to England in 2014 and 2018 will also contain five Tests. No other team will be involved in five-Test contests.

All of India's other bilateral series are between two and four-Test affairs. West Indies and Sri Lanka, however, have nothing longer than three-Test series, while Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are limited to two.

According to the FTP, India will not host Bangladesh or Zimbabwe for either Tests or ODIs in the whole of the eight-year period. India have not hosted Bangladesh in a bilateral series since the latter got Test status in 2000.

There will also be two Ashes series in 2013 -- one during the English summer and the other in Australia at the end of the year -- in order to avoid a clash with the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Mandatory use of DRS

The ICC Executive Board also approved the CEC recommendations on the mandatory use of a modified version of the Decision Review Systems for Test matches and ODIs.

The modified version would have Hot-Spot and snickometer technology but without the Hawk Eye ball-tracker, which means that the leg before decisions will not be within the purview of the DRS.

"The continued use of ball-tracking technology as a decision-making aid will depend on bilateral agreement between the participating Members," the ICC said.

The DRS technology will not, however, be used in Twenty20 Internationals.

The Board also approved the CEC and Cricket Committee recommendations to start a Twenty20 International rankings table from October 1, 2011.

It also gave a seal of approval on the prohibition of the use of runners in all forms of international cricket, running out of a non-striker who is backing up unfairly, dismissal of batsmen (obstructing the field) if they change their course while running to prevent a run-out chance, the need for further research on the balls to be used in day/night Test cricket and revised formats for ODIs.

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