In a triple bonanza for India, it will host the World Twenty 20 Cup competition in 2016 and World Test Championship 2021, both for the first time, and the 50-over World Cup for the fourth time in 2023, the International Cricket Council announced here tonight.

The three competitions were allotted to India by ICC at its annual conference which finalised its global events from 2015 to 2023.

According to an ICC media release, the first edition of the World Test Championship will be staged in 2017 by England and Wales Cricket Board in June-July 2017 while the second edition will be held in India in February-March 2021.

ICC’s Chief Executive David Richardson also put speculation to rest about ICC Champions Trophy being continued.

“The ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales was highly acclaimed and appreciated by all. However, the principle of one pinnacle global event for each of the three formats over a four-year cycle is a good one and, as such, the ICC Board has agreed to replace the Champions Trophy with the ICC World Test Championship,” Richardson was quoted as saying in the press release.

The England and Wales Cricket Board will also host the 2019 World Cup and Cricket Australia got the right to host the 2020 World Twenty20.

The ICC Board supported the strategy of ensuring an optimum balance between the three formats of the game—especially Test cricket—and approved the recommendation that the full member-countries should play a minimum of 16 Tests in each four-year cycle.

In order to ensure that all ODIs played over the four-year cycle between ICC Cricket World Cups count towards a team’s ranking, the ICC Board agreed to change the ODI rankings period from three years to four years.

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