Ricky Ponting backs 5-match Border Gavaskar trophy: Australia and India fans would like it

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has backed the decision of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to make the Border-Gavaskar Trophy a five-match series, saying the fans of Australia and India would love to see more Test matches between the teams.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been a four-match Test series since India's 2004-05 tour of Australia, except for the 2010-11 series in India that comprised only two Tests. However, the new Future Tour Program, announced by the ICC, includes two sets of five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in each of the upcoming cycles of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC).

"I think spectators from Australia and India and probably anyone that loved the game around the world would have liked to have seen more Test matches between Australia and India, so absolutely I think it's a fantastic initiative and more importantly, I think all the players will really enjoy that as well," Ponting said on The ICC Review.

"The thing about the Australia-India series is that the conditions we play into so are so different and so contrasting. When India come to Australia they get the fast, bouncy wickets that offer something for the seamers. And then when Australia go to India it's pretty much the other way round with a lot of spins and a lot of reverse swing bowling. So that contrast in itself I think is what players really like and what the fans would love to watch," Australia's decorated former skipper added further.

Australia are set to host India in a five-match series in the 2023-25 cycle of the WTC. A reciprocal tour is scheduled to take place in the 2025-27 cycle. It will be the first time in over 30 years that Australia and India will clash in a five-match Test series since 1992.

Overall, Australia and India will play a total of 21 and 20 five-day games respectively in the next cycle, whereas England will get to play the most number of games - 22. The 12 ICC full members are scheduled to play a total of 777 international matches 173 Tests, 281 ODIs and 323 T20Is in the 2023-2027 FTP cycle compared to the 694 in the current one.