PAK vs AFG: Pakistan to host Afghanistan as Sri Lanka unable to conduct series due to lockdown – Afghanistan’s three-match ODI series against Pakistan that was scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka from September 3 has now been moved to Pakistan. The primary problem for the Afghanistan cricket team has been travel as the flights have remained grounded since Taliban takeover of Kabul. Furthermore, Sri Lanka’s 10-day lockdown has meant the island nation is not able to host the touring parties.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board had come up with an alternative plan to fly to Sri Lanka from Pakistan via Dubai but ultimately it did not materialise. Now, Pakistan will host the entire series. The situation was further complicated after Sri Lanka announced a 10-day nationwide lockdown.
PAK vs AFG: The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) CEO Hamid Shinwari confirmed the shift of the ODI series to ESPNcricinfo. No commercial flights are taking off from Kabul following the Taliban takeover of the country and Sri Lanka announced a 10-day lockdown on Friday, two days after the country reported 3,793 new cases and a highest-ever single-day death toll of 187.
All three matches in the series between Afghanistan and Pakistan were to be played in Hambantota and involved a three-day quarantine period on arrival for both sides. Afghanistan team will now travel to Pakistan later this week and the ACB is yet to announce the venue(s) for the ODIs starting September 3.
PAK vs AFG: Pakistan’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry, confirmed that the entire Afghanistan squad has received visas to play the series in Pakistan.
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PAK vs AFG: Meanwhile, on Sunday, Azizullah Fazli was reappointed as the new chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). Fazli has already served one term as ACB chairman, from his appointment in September 2018 – following the resignation of Atif Mashal – until July 2019, when he was replaced by Farhan Yusufzai following Afghanistan’s bottom-placed finish at the 2019 World Cup in England.
His appointment came a week after the Taliban seized control over Kabul and the collapse of the government with President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country.
