India's 2018-19 cricket calendar: An estimated 63 internationals matches

Photo: ICC

New Delhi: With an eye on next year's ICC World Cup, the Indian cricket team will be playing around 30 ODIs in a total of estimated 63 international matches across formats, scheduled for the 2018-19 season.

India will also play 12 Test matches during the coming season along with 21 T20 internationals.

India's ongoing season (2017-18) will come to an end with the Nidahas Tri-Nation T20 tournament in Sri Lanka, where Bangladesh will be the third team in the fray.

While the Indian cricket calendar starts in April with the cash-rich Indian Premier League, the national team will start its campaign in June with a short two-match T20 series against Ireland.

In the same month, they will host Afghanistan in Bengaluru for the historic one-off Test.

The marquee two-and-a-half-month tour of England will start in July and end early September where India play five Tests and three ODIs and T20s each.

There is a window for the Asia Cup (this edition will be 50 overs) keeping in mind the World Cup, but the dates and the venue are yet to be finalised. The Asia Cup will have around 9 ODIs.

India's home season will be a short one with the West Indies coming for two Tests, five ODIs and three T20 internationals during October-November.

After the tour of West Indies, India will go Down Under to play Australia in four Tests, three T20 internationals and three ODIs in November-December.

The BCCI has taken a policy decision of not playing Test cricket in New Zealand as 3:30 am IST start to Test matches is not commercially viable for the world's richest cricket board.

The New Zealand tour, from mid-January to mid February, will have five ODIs and five T20 internationals.

In the second half of February, Australia will come to India for a limited-overs series where they will play five ODIs and two T20 internationals.

The curtains will be drawn on the 2018-19 season with Zimbabwe coming for a three-match T20 series.

India's 2018-19 season itinerary (estimated 63 international matches)

June 2018: vs Ireland (2 away T20Is)
June 2018: vs Afghanistan (1 home Test)
July-September 2018: vs England (5 away Tests, 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is)
September 2018: Asia Cup (Approx 9 ODIs, venue and date yet to be finalised)
October-November 2018: vs West Indies (2 home Tests, 5 ODIs, 3 T20Is)
November-December 2018: vs Australia (4 away Tests, 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is)
January-February 2019: vs New Zealand (5 away ODIs, 5 T20Is)
February-March 2019: vs Australia (5 home ODIs, 2 T20Is)
March 2019 : vs Zimbabwe (3 home T20Is)