ICC leans to more T20Is and fewer ODIs: Pakistan's 2027-31 fixtures take shape

The ICC begins a cricket operations workshop in Dubai on Tuesday to put shape to the Future Tours Programme for 2027 to 2031. The current cycle ends in March 2027, and the direction of travel is clear: more T20Is between Full Members, and fewer bilateral ODIs to make room for them.

Nothing is signed yet. Officials describe "so many moving parts", and the finished FTP is expected at the ICC quarterly meeting in Bali in November. But the main commitments of most boards are close to fixed, and Pakistan's are among them.

What Pakistan already has

Pakistan cannot play India bilaterally, so the PCB has spent the cycle pushing for more cricket against England and Australia instead. Two commitments are already announced:

• A five-match ODI series in England next summer. That series began life as talks over a one-off Test, which would have been played had Pakistan stayed in contention for the 2025-27 World Test Championship final.
• A three-Test tour of Australia in 2027-28.

For a board whose broadcast money depends on drawing the biggest away audiences, both matter more than another short series against a lower-ranked side.

Why ODIs are being cut

The T20I is the ICC's growth format. Its World Cup runs every two years against four for the 50-over version, and it is the cheapest route for Associates to play Full Members. The 50-over game is not being retired, but the ODI World Cup is doing most of the work of keeping it alive.

There is talk among members of making the format feel like an event again, not by reviving the ODI Super League but by going back to 1990s-style tri-series and quadrangulars. For Pakistani viewers, that would mean fewer dead-rubber bilateral ODIs and more tournaments with a trophy at the end.

The 2028 Olympic clash

Cricket returns to the Olympics in Los Angeles in July 2028, its first appearance since 1900. The week-long men's T20 event falls in the middle of the English summer and is expected to clash with England's home Tests against West Indies. Every board scheduling anything in that window has to work around it.

The WTC question

The World Test Championship is in its fourth cycle with nine teams. An ICC working committee recommended in April adding Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland, and allowing one-Test series in the league to fit them. Zimbabwe are keen. Afghanistan and Ireland are less certain. Whether the WTC expands for the 2027-29 cycle should become clearer this week.

A second session in Dubai covers DRS: the ICC wants more accredited suppliers than the current two, Hawk-Eye and Virtual Eye.

What it means for you

If you buy tickets or a streaming pass around Pakistan's away tours, the two dates worth holding are the England ODIs next summer and the Australia Tests in 2027-28. Tour costs in pounds and Australian dollars move with the rupee, and our currency converter and the dollar rate page track that daily.