According to reports, India is set to host Afghanistan for a 3-match ODI series in June after playing the World Test Championship (WTC) Final at The Oval, London against Australia. Furthermore, the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) will have to rope in a new broadcaster for this series because their previous contract with Star India expired last month.
The secretary of BCCI, Jay Shah revealed this vital information in a chat with Sportstar. He was quoted as saying, “The Media Rights tender will be released as per schedule this year (June-July) and will depend on the Afghanistan tour, but more likely the process will start from the Australia series (in September). The Board will speak to all stakeholders concerned and will come up with an interim decision (for the broadcaster).”
This 3-match ODI series, arranged outside of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) schedule of the International Cricket Council (ICC), will provide Team India with an opportunity to test younger players in the lead-up to the home World Cup. It will also allow the Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid to find options outside of the core 17-18 players that they have already earmarked for the ICC Cricket World Cup set to be played later this year.
Team India has not won an ICC trophy in men’s cricket for the last 10 years after their success at the Champions Trophy in England during the summer of 2013. The Indian fans and former cricketers have been very critical of their team’s performances in ICC tournaments for a long time. It’s because India has consistently qualified for the knockout stages but failed to get past the final hurdle and win the big one.
