The first bilateral series between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been postponed and will be played next year.

According to the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, all the commercial flights have been stopped from operating from the capital city Kabul. Due to this Afghanistan faced logistical issues in sending the team to Hambantota, where the series was scheduled to start on September 3.

“After much deliberation, we have mutually decided to postpone the tournament, keeping the conditions and the mental health of the players in mind,” ACB CEO Hamid Shinwari told Sportstar on Monday.

Earlier, there were several rumors about the series to be shifted to Pakistan, but Shinwari said that it was not possible to hold the series in the ongoing situation.

“The Pakistan Cricket Board and the Sri Lanka Cricket Board had supported us fully in terms of helping us with hosting the series, but in the current scenario, it is not possible to hold the series,” Shinwari said.

The bilateral series is a part of the ICC’s qualifying stage for the upcoming 2023 World Cup scheduled in India.

“We have kept ICC in the loop and we will look at a possible date sometime before the 2023 World Cup,” the CEO added.

The PCB has accepted the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s (ACB) request to postpone the series to a later date in 2022.

PCB has accepted ACB's request to postpone next month’s ODI series due to players’ mental health issues, disruption in flight operations in Kabul, lack of broadcast facilities and increased Covid-19 cases in Sri Lanka. Both boards will try to reschedule the series in 2022.

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) August 23, 2021

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