BCCI push for FTP gaps gets Dubai dates

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) says it will instruct its FTP managers to plan the next Future Tours Programme (FTP) cycle in such a way that there is adequate time for acclimatisation in overseas conditions, particularly in the SENA countries. Well, the BCCI does not have too long to make its case.

A workshop on the FTP is scheduled in Dubai on September 22 and 23, with operations teams from all the boards expected to attend. The BCCI too will send its team to the workshop, which will discuss the scheduling of international matches for the 2027-31 cycle. Interestingly enough, representatives from the top eight Associate countries have also been invited.

"The challenge we are facing is that there are too many matches in the year, and that is why, in the next FTP, we will do certain things and take certain measures,” BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said on Thursday after a review meeting of the Indian team.

“We have instructed our FTP people, who will be meeting very soon at various international forums, that our FTP should be scheduled in such a way that there is proper rest for the players, as well as some kind of acclimatisation or friendly matches before any major series in SENA countries.”

The BCCI managers will have to work around existing bilateral commitments and ICC events in the next FTP to create gaps in the schedule. India will host England for five Tests at the beginning of 2028 and travel to Australia at the end of that year. There will then be return tours, with India touring England tentatively in 2029 and hosting Australia in 2031.

In between there are ICC events – T20 World Cup in 2028 in Australia and New Zealand, Champions Trophy in India in 2029 and T20 World Cup in 2030 in England, Scotland and Ireland and the ODI World Cup in 2031 in India and Bangladesh. Then there are WTC commitments which may require them to travel to South Africa and West Indies and host Sri Lanka and another team. It will not be easy but then the BCCI is known to meet the targets.

Meanwhile, Cricbuzz can reveal that the next international calendar could feature more multilateral games. There appears to be a growing view among boards that bilateral cricket is fast losing its pull and is becoming less financially viable. The perception is that multilateral games can offer greater financial returns.

Tri-series and quadrangulars are largely out of vogue, if not entirely extinct. Currently, a T20I tri-series is under way in Namibia involving the hosts, South Africa and Zimbabwe. There has been only one ODI tri-series since the 2019 World Cup — involving New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan — which was played ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy.

As for India, there have been four since the 2011 World Cup – one in Australia in 2011-12, with Sri Lanka as the third side; another in 2013, involving Sri Lanka and hosts West Indies; and a tri-series in Australia in 2014-15, also featuring England.

The most recent was the Nidahas Trophy in 2018, featuring Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, when Dinesh Karthik won it for India with a last-ball six in the final. The first three were ODI tournaments, while the Nidahas Trophy was a T20I event. The Asia Cup is also a multilateral event, but it is a different proposition as it is owned by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

Multilateral tournaments normally belong to the host board, but in India’s case, the valuation of non-India games is unlikely to be as lucrative. That may explain why the BCCI has not hosted a multilateral tournament since the TVS Cup in 2003-04, which involved Australia and New Zealand. How the economics and media-rights arrangements will work remains to be seen.

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