Afghanistan and Zimbabwe to play a limited-overs series in February 2018

The newly promoted Test-playing nation Afghanistan have agreed to play Zimbabwe in a five ODIs and two T20Is series in Sharjah starting February 2018. The tour would start with the back-to-back T20I games on the 5th and 6th of February, before the 50 overs leg.

The One-Day Internationals will be played from February 9 to 19. The Asian nation was also in talks with Zimbabwe over a possible Test series around the same time. The original plan for Afghanistan was for both the teams to stop over in Sharjah before Zimbabwe would play Bangladesh for an ODI tri-series. However, things didn’t work out as the dates clashed with the World Cup Qualifiers where both will fight it out for a spot in the World Cup 2019.

Zimbabwe Cricket suggested to the Afghanistan Cricket Board that it might be better to play the Test series later.

“We are still discussing the proposed Test and looking at playing it after the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier,” a ZC official said to ESPNCricinfo. With Zimbabwe suffering a cash crunch, they may also prefer to play their Test matches away from home.

Three-match ODI series against Ireland

Further, Afghanistan also announced a three-match ODI series against Ireland which will be played on the 5th, 7th and 10th of December.

The ACB chairman Atif Mashal appeared happy that the team was getting good exposure in limited-overs cricket. “The two T20Is and five-match ODI series at Sharjah Cricket Stadium will give both sides [Afghanistan and Zimbabwe] a valuable opportunity to face each other for competitive cricket ahead of the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in March,” he said.

Zimbabwe would be looking to clean sweep the series against Afghanistan, after their terrific show against the Asian side Sri Lanka. On the other hand, Afghanistan also have been playing tremendous cricket albeit the results have not always come their way. They will want to beat the Zimbabweans and gain momentum ahead of the Qualifiers.