India to play South Africa in their opening match of the 2019 World Cup

IPL 2019 dates also announced and FTP 2019-2023 finalised.

Team India will take on South Africa in their first match of the 2019 World Cup

The 2019 ICC World Cup will be hosted by the England and Wales Cricket Board from 30 May to 14 July 2019.

This will be the 12th edition of the World Cup and the format will see it revert back to the 1992 World Cup, where 10 teams played each other on round robin basis. The full schedule will be released on April 30.

The first match will be played at The Oval while the final will be played at Lord's. England and Wales will be hosting the World Cup for the fifth time.

It has been reported that India's opening match of the 2019 World Cup will see them take on South Africa on June 4, 2019. India and South Africa have had a storied rivalry in the World Cup, as India beat South Africa for the first time in 2015 ICC World Cup.

The IPL 2019 will be played from March 29th to May 19th.

"The 2019 IPL will be played between March 29 and May 19. But we need to maintain a 15-day gap and World Cup starts on May 30. Therefore as per 15 day gap we could have only played on June 4. Earlier, we were scheduled to start on June 2 but we couldn't have played on that day," a senior BCCI official said.

"This is the first time Indo-Pak match won't be a starting affair. Since the format will be a round robin affair (all teams playing each other like 1992)," the official added.

It was also reported that India will play 19 home Tests during the 2019-2023 FTP cycle.

"As we had decided, India will play a maximum 309 days of international cricket in this cycle across formats, a reduction of 92 days from the earlier cycle. However, the number of home Test matches will increase from 15 to 19. All these Tests will be part of the World Test Championship," he added.

It was also confirmed that India will not be playing any Day/Night Test matches, since they are not a part of World Test Championship.

"All matches in ICC World Test Championship are day matches played with a red ball. If that's the case, there is no point in playing pink ball Tests if it doesn't help in preparation for World Test Championship," he concluded.

It was also reported that current ICC chairman Shashank Manohar may be offered an extension, despite opposition from BCCI.

(With PTI inputs)

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 24 Apr, 2018

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