Afghanistan to Host Zimbabwe for T20I, ODI Series in Sharjah

Afghanistan will play two  Twenty20  internationals  and five one-day internationals against Zimbabwe in Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates on February next year, the Afghan Cricket Board (ACB) announced Thursday.

All match will be played at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, which is Afghanistan’s home ground.

“The two T20Is and five-match ODI series at Sharjah Cricket Stadium will give both sides a valuable opportunity to face each other for competitive cricket ahead of the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in March,” the ACB Chairman, Shukrullah Atif Mashal  said in a statement.

“Both sides have played closely fought series in the past and this will again ensure that cricket fans witness some great cricket between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe”, he added.

Following the announcement, the Zimbabwe Cricket said that they have enjoyed playing Afghanistan in recent times. “We believe the upcoming one-day international and Twenty 20 international matches will be no different,” Zimbabwe Cricket Spokesperson Darlington Majonga said as cited in the ACB statement. 

“For Us, the  Afghanistan tour  will be very important because, as a team that has not played a great deal of limited-overs cricket over the last couple of years, the series will present a great opportunity for our side to try and get together as a unit before the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 which will be staged in Zimbabwe,” he added.

The matches between the two sides were scheduled as follows: 

1st T20I – 5 th February 2018
2 nd T20I – 6 th February 2018

1st ODI – 9th February 2018
2nd ODI – 11th February 2018
3rd ODI – 13th February 2018
4th ODI – 16th February 2018
5th ODI – 19th February 2018

This comes as Afghanistan is expected to play three ODIs against Ireland in December this year  in Sharjah cricket stadium.