After the Sri Lankan authorities imposed a 10-day statewide lockdown in their country, the ODI series between Pakistan and Afghanistan was transferred to Pakistan.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) CEO Hamid Shinwari confirmed the latest developments of the series being transferred to Pakistan, according to ESPNcricinfo.
This is the second time in the last month that the series has had to change. The series was originally scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Pakistan’s home matches are held.
However, because the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) opted to hold the remaining IPL 2021 fixtures in the UAE, the bilateral series had to be rescheduled.
After the Taliban military organisation took control of Afghanistan, there was a lot of uncertainty about the series’ future. However, both the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board have stated that the series will be played as scheduled.
In actuality, due to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the Afghan cricket team was issued Pakistani visas because they were unable to board flights from their home country.
Afghanistan’s political situation is tumultuous, with Taliban troops capturing Kabul, the country’s capital. There are no commercial flights available from Kabul city due to the difficult circumstances in the country.
Previously, the Afghan team was scheduled to travel by road to Pakistan and then fly to the United Arab Emirates (Dubai). The team would have taken a flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital city, from Dubai.
The ODI series was set to take place between September 3 and September 9, according to PCB. This will be Pakistan and Afghanistan’s first bilateral series, despite the fact that they have played each other in events such as the World Cup and Asia Cup.