The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly delayed their squad announcement for the upcoming ODI series against Afghanistan as the latter board is yet to finalise schedule and travel plan for the series.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board’s (ACB) delay in finalising things has been majorly due to the present political crisis in the country as the Taliban have taken over the country.
Notably, the ODI series between the two neighbouring nations was scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota between September 3 and 9. The ACB was set to host the ODI rubber.
As part of their prepration for the series, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had planned to start a training camp for the from August 21 however, as the ACB is yet to finalise things, PCB has reportedly put the squad announcement and training camp on hold as they do not want to make additional expenses.
The series was seen as part of prepration of both the teams for the upcoming T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the UAE after the completion of the IPL 2021 remainder.
Earlier, ACB has said that the ODI series against Pakistan would not be affected by the change of government in its country.
“Taliban love cricket and they are supporting their team. Our ODI series against Pakistan will go as per schedule in Sri Lanka. After two days’ gap due to the current situation in the country, the training camp of the national team will resume tomorrow,” ACB CEO Hamid Shinwari had said.
Significantly, the ODI series between the two nations was originally scheduled to be held in Dubai but was later shifted to the island nation as its dates were clashing with the IPL 2021 second leg, which will also begin in September in the UAE.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan is also scheduled to feature in the upcoming T20 World Cup, slated to be held in the UAE in October, however, due to the current scenario, its participation remains doubtful.