Next Australian home summer has already seen a massive shift in its schedule, with the national side travelling to India for a three-match ODI series in January 2020 and not hosting New Zealand at the time, as it was originally scheduled to do so in the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP).
Multiple recent reports had stated that Cricket Australia (CA) requested the BCCI to shift that series for a later spot in the year, but the Indian Cricket board is learnt to have refused and even insist that the series begins several days earlier. Of course, nothing is officially confirmed yet.
As per the FTP, Australia's 2019-20 cricket season at home includes series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the concerned ODI visit from New Zealand, before the team heads to Bangladesh for a two-match Test series.
India, on the other hand, is due to travel to New Zealand for a full tour of two Tests, five T20Is and three ODIs at the time. Men in Blue then host South Africa for three ODIs and three T20Is before the Indian Premier League kickstarts.
Hence, in the wake of the overall situation, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is understood to have accepted the postponement of their away series and is looking at future dates.
"We're quite relaxed about it and confident a contingency can be arranged," a New Zealand Cricket spokesman told stuff.co.nz.
A Cricket Australia spokesperson also responded over the issue and said, "We have been working hard to rejig the schedule to fit a change in dates for the two ODI series, at home with New Zealand and away with India, on the back end of the Sydney test but there are necessary trade-offs.
"As a sport, we are fortunate that we have three formats, a compelling international and domestic offering for both men and women. Complexities are bound to and often arise."
"What we are working through is a solution that sees us honouring our commitments to overseas boards, being flexible to their changing needs, balanced with the need to schedule a summer of cricket that works for the fans. We are confident we will find a way to deliver, with some trade-offs."
India is also scheduled to tour Australia for a full tour in 2020-21 summer. Hence, it is easy to understand how wary Cricket Australia (CA) must have been of the BCCI consequences in this matter. They perhaps had no option but to agree. India declined to play a D/N Test in Adelaide when it last visited down under.
(Inputs from CricketNext)
