India to play fewer ODIs in West Indies

India's one-day series away to West Indies, which starts in April, has been reduced from seven to five games, an Indian cricket official said on Tuesday.

The two boards had agreed to cut down on the original schedule at the request of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said from Rajkot on Tuesday.

"We will now play only five one-day games, as well as a five-match Test series," Shah said.

The reduced one-day series would give the Indian players a longer break at home ahead of their Test tour of England starting in June, he added.

Niranjan said the original schedule of five Tests and seven one-day internationals would have stretched India's tour to the West Indies until the first week of June, with the team due to arrive in England on June 12.

"This will give the players some more time to recover," he said.

He said the revised tour schedule would be finalised once the West Indies board decided which games to remove from the original itinerary.

Mail Cricket Editor