World Test C’ship:

India will travel to the West Indies for their opening series in the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC), the ICC announced on Wednesday as it released the Future Tours Program for the 2018-2023 cycle.

India will play a two-Test series in the Caribbean as part of the WTC, the ICC said in a statement.

Overall, nine top-ranked sides will participate in the inaugural edition of the WTC, which will run from July 15, 2019 to April 30, 2021.

The West Indies series will take place right after the 2019 ODI World Cup and the tour will also comprise three ODIs and as many T20s.

India are also set to host the West Indies for three Tests, five ODIs and three T20s later this year.

India’s next couple of series in WTC will take place in New Zealand (two Tests) and Australia (four Tests) in 20202021 before they play England in a five-Test series at home. The WTC series against New Zealand in 2020 will have Tests but no fiveday games are scheduled when India travel to play the Black Caps next year.

Expectedly, India and Pakistan are not scheduled to play in the WTC but they could still meet in the final.

In total, India will play 18 Tests in WTC and 12 of them will be against Australia, South Africa and England.

In the entire 2018-2023 cycle, India will play over 200 matches, more than any other team. They will host as many as 102 games, barring Pakistan and Ireland.