Reports: BCCI has invited Sri Lanka and New Zealand to tour India this winter

After the on-going India vs West Indies series ends, the Men in Blue will travel to Sri Lanka later this month. However, when they return from Lanka, they have no home or away series scheduled until January next year when they will travel to South Africa. While Australia are supposed to tour India in October for seven ODIs, the pay dispute between Cricket Australia and their players may lead to cancellation of the tour.

That is almost five months of no international cricket for Team India, something the cricket crazy fans cannot swallow. After India return from Sri Lanka in September, and if the Australia tour is cancelled, there would be no cricket until January. However, as per latest reports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited Sri Lanka and New Zealand to India in November and December.

Reports in Pune Mirror also say that both the boards have agreed to tour India for bilateral series. Speaking to a Sri Lankan cricket spokesperson, they further found out that the schedule of the Sri Lanka tournament is already being planned, and the series will include both ODIs as well as Tests. As for the New Zealand itinerary, nothing has been revealed yet.

Australia pay dispute may end by October

As for Australia, the pay dispute is likely to be resolved by October, and if that happens, we will have a full-fledged series with the Aussies in three months time. As for India’s tour of South Africa in January 2017, the two teams will play four Tests, five ODIs and two T20s.

With so many series coming up, Indian players will have enough time and chances to test the bench strength, give longer ropes to the underperforming players, and accordingly finalize a team which can travel to England in 2019 for the ODI World Cup.