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Sports fans in for a treat, as ATN secures rights to 4 key cricket tournaments

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(Last Updated On: May 30, 2023)

In line with providing world-class sport entertainment, Ariana Television Network (ATN) is thrilled to announce it has done it again for all cricket fans across the country. 

This time, ATN has managed to secure the broadcasting rights to four major international tournaments, which means June through to November will be an action-packed sporting period for viewers in Afghanistan. 

The four cricket events that will be broadcast live on Ariana Television are as follows: 

ICC World Test Championship; the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023; ACC Asia Cup; and ICC Cricket World Cup 

ICC World Test Championship 

The first tournament that will be screened live on Ariana Television will be the ICC World Test Championship. This will run from June 7 to June 11.

The world’s top-ranked Test teams, India, at No.1, and Australia, at No.2, will take each other on in this exciting final next month, scheduled to be held at the prestigious Oval Cricket Ground in London.

India were the runners-up of the previous edition where they lost the final to New Zealand.

This time however, they seem better prepared with three back-to-back Test series wins against Australia; the last one being in the run-up to the start of the IPL in March. 

ICC World Cup Qualifier 2023

This tournament will follow close on the heels of the World Test Championships, in fact it starts just two days after the Oval Test wraps up. 

The ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 will run from 18 June to 9 July 2023 and will be played in Zimbabwe.

There are two spots up for grabs in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup which takes place at the end of the year.

The teams that will battle it out for one of the two spots are Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, Sri Lanka,

UAE, USA, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Eight teams have already qualified. They are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa. 

ACC Asia Cup

The Asia Cup, scheduled for September, will now also be broadcast live by ATN. This is the only continental championship in cricket and the tournament is played in both the white-ball formats – ODI and T20I. 

It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countries and the first ODI edition of the competition was played in 1984 in which three teams – India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka participated. T20I was only introduced in 2016.

For this year’s tournament, the groups and format were announced on 5 January 2023, with the six teams split into two groups of three. 

A total of 13 matches will be played, which includes six league matches, six Super 4 matches, and a final.

India, Pakistan and Nepal, have been placed in Group A, while the defending champions Sri Lanka are grouped with Bangladesh and Afghanistan in Group B.

The top two teams from each of the groups will progress to the Super 4. From there, the top two teams will play each other in the final.

ICC Cricket World Cup 

After months of world-class cricket tournaments, the year will be rounded off by the all-exciting ICC Cricket World Cup. 

Once again, this tournament will be broadcast live by ATN. 

This One Day International (ODI) tournament will see 10 countries battle it out for the trophy, which was last won in 2019 by England. 

The tournament will be hosted by India with dates rumored to be from 5 October to 19 November. However, some reports indicate the final might be held on 26 November.

Originally, the tournament was scheduled to be played from 9 February to 26 March 2023 but, in July 2020, it was announced that the tournament would be delayed to an October–November window, following the disruption of the qualification schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

England are the defending champions, having won the previous edition in 2019, defeating New Zealand in the final.

This line-up meanwhile comes on the heels of ATN having secured the rights to broadcast the exhilarating IPL tournament this year, which is currently ongoing. 

Cricket fans who haven’t yet tuned in to watch the daily matches can do so from the comfort of their own homes by simply tuning in to Ariana Television or stream live on ATN websites. 

ATN will meanwhile publish all schedules and broadcasting times ahead of each upcoming tournament. So be sure to watch out for updates on our website. 

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Afghanistan dominate Ireland to win T20I series

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(Last Updated On: March 19, 2024)

Afghanistan proved too strong with bat and ball against Ireland as they claimed a 57-run victory in Sharjah on Monday to edge the T20I series 2-1.

A superb 72 not out from Ibrahim Zadran, backed up by the bowling of Azmatullah Omarzai, gave the hosts victory in the final match of Ireland’s tour against Afghanistan.

“It is a great series win for us,” said Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan, going on to praise the performance of his young side.

The Irish were unable to chase down a target of 156, with Omarzai’s four wickets for just nine runs helping bowl the tourists out for 98 inside 18 overs.

Ireland won the first T20I of the mini-series last week but consecutive wins on Sunday and Monday ensured Afghanistan recovered to take the three-game series, after earlier winning the ODI series 2-0.

For the third consecutive time, Khan won the toss against Ireland and as he did in Monday’s 10-run win, he elected to bat first.

Batting at three, 22-year-old Zadran anchored Afghanistan’s innings with his career-best T20I score of 72, which boosted the hosts to a total Ireland could not match.

Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz rounded off a T20I series he will hope to forget on a personal level, after scores of zero and three in the first two matches, when Harry Tector took a superb diving catch to dismiss him for six at the start of the third over.

Afghanistan were then ticking along nicely with Zadran and Sediqullah Atal at the crease, until Atal chipped a turning ball straight back to Gareth Delany.

In the very next over, Omarzai, on back-to-back golden ducks, was dropped by Delany on one but departed just two deliveries later, after lobbing Curtis Campher to Josh Little.

Mohammad Ishaq’s arrival steadied the ship for Afghanistan as he mounted a crucial fourth-wicket stand of 54 with Zadran, until the No 5 mistimed a lob on 27 and Paul Stirling snaffled up the ball.

With just over five overs left, Zadran kept the scoreboard moving along for Afghanistan.

Ijaz Ahmadzai ably deputized him at the end with 10 runs from three balls, including a monster six in the last over, before he was run out trying to get his partner back on strike for the final delivery.

Ireland’s run chase never really got underway, especially after Naveen-ul-Haq bowled both Andy Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker with consecutive deliveries in the second over.

Some resistance came from Campher and Delany’s 36-run sixth-wicket stand but the visitors were never really allowed to form any partnership of great merit by Afghanistan’s pace attack.

Omarzai, 23, claimed the key wickets of Tector and George Dockrell, before removing Mark Adair and Barry McCarthy as Afghanistan took apart the Irish batting line-up.

Naveen-ul-Haq then bowled Ben White with a slower ball, bringing a close to affairs and securing Afghanistan a tight series win ahead of this summer’s T20 World Cup.

Despite defeat, Ireland will still view the tour as an historic success after they won their very first test match on March 1. – AFP

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Ireland beat Afghanistan by 38 runs in first T20I

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(Last Updated On: March 16, 2024)

Ireland defeated Afghanistan by 38 runs to take 1-0 lead in their three-match T20I series in Sharjah on Friday.

Sent to bat first by Afghans who won the toss, Ireland posted 149-6, with Harry Tector scoring 56 off 34 (not out). Captain Paul Stirling hit 25 while Andy Balbirnie made 22.

Rashid Khan, who returned to competitive cricket after months of absence due to back injury, picked up three wickets, giving away 19 runs in the four overs he bowled.

Nangeyalia Kharote picked up two wickets, giving away only 16 runs in his four overs.

Chasing 150, Afghanistan lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the very first bowl of their innings. They lost Sediqullah Atal and Azmatullah Omarzai in the second over.

Wickets continued to fall and Afghanistan were all out in the 18.4 overs, having made 111 runs. Mohammad Ishaq (32) was their top-scorer, followed by Mohammad Nabi who made 25.

The second T20I between the sides will be played on Sunday at the same venue.

 

 

 

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Rashid back in team for T20I series against Ireland

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(Last Updated On: March 14, 2024)

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced the names of 15 national cricket team players for the T20 international series against Ireland.

Included in the team is Rashid Khan. This comes after a break of a few months following back surgery.

Rashid will also captain the team.

Afghanistan and Ireland cricket teams will face each other at Sharjah Stadium on March 15, 17 and 18 after playing the ODI series and one off test match.

List of Afghanistan players:

Rashid Khan (Captain), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Garbaz, Sediq Atal, Ijaz Ahmadzai, Ishaq Rahimi, Mohammad Nabi, Nangyal Kharotai, Azmatullah Omarzai, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Wafadar Momand, Farid Malik, Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazal Haq Farooqi.

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