Shagun Roy, Pune
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to reschedule the home series against the West Indies, originally planned for January-February 2024 to January 2025. The decision was made to prioritize the team’s preparation for the T20 World Cup 2024. Consequently, Pakistan will now play a series of five T20Is against New Zealand as part of their away fixtures.
The T20 matches will take place in Auckland, Hamilton, Dunedin, and Christchurch in January next year. This change in schedule in the Future Tours Programme means that Pakistan will play a total of 19 T20Is leading up to the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, with ten matches against New Zealand alone, split evenly between home and away fixtures, and the remaining matches against the Netherlands (three), Ireland (two), and England (four).
The board also stated it was the best “strategic decision to provide the best preparation opportunities for the T20 World Cup 2024”.
A separate series in New Zealand comprising three ODIs and five T20Is, originally scheduled for January 2025, has been postponed to April 2025. Consequently, Pakistan’s upcoming home season later this year will not feature any Test matches. After completing their ongoing series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan will embark on a three-Test tour of Australia towards the end of the year.
They will also have a Test hiatus until August 2024 when they host Bangladesh for a two-Test series. This adjustment allows Pakistan to alleviate the congestion in early 2024 with the five-match T20I series against New Zealand taking place in January. After the conclusion of the Tests in Australia, the Pakistani team will travel directly to Auckland to participate in the T20Is. In April, following the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the teams will engage in a reciprocal five-T20I series in Pakistan.