Afghanistan to speak to Pakistan to reorganise the ODI series in Sri Lanka which was postponed earlier

Azizullah Fazli, the newly appointed Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) chairman, has said that he will be visiting Pakistan in a few days to meet with the officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). It has been reported that he will be speaking about the three-match ODI series between Afghanistan and Pakistan which was postponed earlier this month. 

A lot has been going on in Pakistan Cricket and Afghanistan politically. Since the Taliban takeover, a lot has changed in the country. The effects have been felt by the cricket team as well. As the Taliban are against women playing sports, it could lead to the men’s team facing a boycott. 

According to the ICC rules, every Test-playing nation should have a women’s team. On the back of this, Cricket Australia has threatened to cancel their one-off Test against Afghanistan, which is scheduled to happen at the end of November. Fazli though has said that he will be speaking to the other cricket boards in the subcontinent region. However, he didn’t say anything about the women’s team. 

Azizullah Fazli to meet officials of India, Bangladesh, and UAE apart from Pakistan 

“I am taking a tour of Pakistan from September 25 and then will go to India, Bangladesh, and the United Arab Emirates to meet officials of cricket boards,” he said according to cricket.com. He further revealed that he will be meeting PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja and “offer to host Pakistan for the series which we were due to play in Sri Lanka in September”.

The series was postponed earlier keeping in mind the physical and mental wellbeing of the Afghanistan team. The issue around logistics and a COVID outbreak was also cited as a problem. The series was part of the ODI League, which acts as a qualification for the 2023 World Cup. 

On Tuesday, the Taliban sacked Hamid Shinwari as Afghanistan Cricket Board chief executive. His position was taken by Naseeb Zadran Khan. He has been linked to the Haqqani network, which is responsible for some of the worst attacks in the country’s history. Fazli has previously served this position between September 2018 to July 2019.