PCB tweaks FTP schedule; postpones West Indies series to facilitate T20Is versus New Zealand

Pakistan have decided to tweak the Future Tours Programme with the 2024 T20 World Cup in mind. In the same light, their home series against the West Indies in January-February 2024 has been pushed back to January 2025. Pakistan were scheduled to face West Indies in a two-match Test series and a three-match T20I series. The window that opens up in 2024 will be filled with a five-match T20I series against New Zealand.

Babar Azam and Co. will be travelling to New Zealand to play the five T20Is in what promises to serve as good preparation ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA in June 2024. On the other hand, a separate series against New Zealand of three ODIs and five T20Is has been pushed back from January 2025 to April 2025.

Pakistan will now be playing 19 T20Is between now and the impending T20 World Cup. Interestingly, 10 of the 19 T20Is will be against the Black Caps, five at home and five away. The Men in Green will play three T20Is against the Netherlands, two against Ireland, and four against England, who defeated them in the finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup.

The revised fixture will give the Pakistani players a bit of a breather in the early parts of 2024, as they have a lot of assignments to handle. They will face Australia in a three-Test series between December 2023 and January 2024. Following this, Pakistan will travel to New Zealand to play in the five-match T20I series. The Pakistan Super League (PSL) will follow in February-March.

PCB has requested Emirates Cricket Board to pull back dates of ILT20 to avoid overlapping with PSL

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, PCB has requested the Emirates Cricket Board to pull back the dates of ILT20 by ten days to avoid overlapping with PSL. It is also expected that, unlike 2023, in 2024, PCB will allow its players to sign contracts in ILT20.

The conversation between the two bodies took place during Najam Sethi's tenure as PCB chairman. He was replaced by Zaka Ashraf earlier this month. Even in the absence of Sethi, it is unlikely that there will be any changes to the decision taken by the two boards.