The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), according to reports, has decided to shift the start times of England's evening T20I matches against India next month in order to attract larger television audiences. India are scheduled to tour England for a white-ball series, scheduled to take place between July 1 and July 19, featuring five T20Is and three ODIs.
Originally, the schedule was released with three of the T20I matches set to begin at 6:30 PM local time (11PM IST), but now the ECB has adjusted those fixtures to start an hour earlier at 5:30 PM (10PM IST). The revised timings come after discussions involving broadcasters and other stakeholders.
Cricket schedules for international matches are confirmed through consultation between the ECB, host venues, touring boards, and television partners. In this case, broadcasters in both the United Kingdom and India played a major role in the decision-making process. The change also comes amidst the growing importance of India-related fixtures to the financial health of English cricket.
India squad for England T20Is: Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi