After the World Test Championship Final is over, India will probably host Afghanistan for a three-game ODI series in the month of June.
The series will give the Men in Blue a lot of needed practice and give Rahul Dravid and the Indian captain a few more chances to try out different combos before the World Cup later this year. India will host the 2023 World Cup, which will probably start on October 5.
The BCCI will also hire an interim broadcaster for the series, since the media rights offer will be sent out in June and July this year, as planned. The tender process will depend on the tour of Afghanistan, but the process is likely to start in September with the series against Australia.
“The Media Rights tender will be released on time this year (June-July), and it will depend on the Afghanistan tour, but the process is more likely to begin with the Australia series in September,” Shah told a small group of reporters in Mumbai, as reported by Sportstar.
“The Board will talk to everyone involved and come up with a temporary decision (for the broadcaster),” he said.
The Afghanistan tour, which wasn’t in the Future Tours Program, will give India some game time and a chance to figure out the best ways to play before the World Cup in their own country. Most likely, this series will start on June 16, which is five days after the WTC Final ends. Heavyweights India and Australia are going to play each other in the WTC Final on June 7 at The Oval in London. India was in the finals of the last tournament, so they will do their best to win again.
The BCCI’s deal with Star to broadcast cricket games ends in March. It will be interesting to see if the BCCI comes up with a tender just for the Afghanistan series, since Shah said the process will start with the Australia series.
India
