The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will be announcing the national squad for the ODI series against Afghanistan in the coming days, as the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) gave the green signal for the series.

Afghanistan will be hosting the series in early September in  Hambantota, Sri Lanka.

The national squad may not include some of the senior players. They will be having a rest ahead of the next season after their talks with the team management.

The players said that they have been consistently in the bio-secure bubble due to COVID-19. Hence, they said they would like to have some rest and spend time with their families.

Players including skipper Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Fahim Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, and Muhammad Rizwan are likely to be on the rest for the ODI series.

In the absence of Babar, Shahdab Khan may lead the team, according to tot the sources. The PCB may announce the new squad in the next two or three days.

Taliban love cricket: ACB

In response to the PCB’s query regarding the fate of the series between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the ACB said that there will be no effect on the series due to the changing government and will go as scheduled.

“The 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 said.

Earlier, officials of the Sri Lankan Cricket Board were not sure about the T20 series between Pakistan and Afghanistan will start on September 1 as a result of the change of the Afghan government.

Now the board said that it will go ahead with the arrangement of the series between the two countries.

Afghanistan is also scheduled to play in ICC T20 World Cup to be held in United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, it is also in doubt.

Most national players are in Afghanistan

“Efforts are being made to check their [Afghan cricket players] whereabouts,” said an international cricket official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Sri Lankan Cricket Board said that it was still in favor of hosting the series between Pakistan and Afghanistan at Hambantota stadium.

The series was to be hosted by UAE, but due to the clash with the Indian Premier League (IPL) which is also slated to start from September in UAE.

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