Pak, Afg and UAE to play T20I tri-series

Series is likely to be played in Dubai later this year

LAHORE:

The T20I series between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which is scheduled to be played in the United Arab Emirates, is now set to be turned into a trilateral series with the hosts making the third team.

The Afghan side are scheduled to tour Pakistan in late summer for a bilateral T20I series in the current future tours programme cycle.

However, with the prospect of this year's T20 Asia Cup in the UAE, an arrangement is being worked to move the series there and include the hosts as the third team, sources close to the matter stated.

India are the hosts for this year's edition of the Asia Cup, but the tournament will be staged at a neutral venue after Pakistan and India agreed to host each other at neutral venues in multi-team tournaments because of geopolitical tensions. The month of September is locked as a tentative window for the tournament.

Both, Pakistan and Afghanistan, haven't played each other on Pakistani soil. Though, Afghanistan played in Pakistan for the ICC Champion Trophy

Pakistan and Afghanistan have never played each other on Pakistani soil. Ahead of the last iteration of the Asia Cup, which was played in the ODI format and was held across Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Afghanistan hosted Pakistan in Hambantota and Colombo for acclimatisation purposes ahead of the tournament in 2023.

The last bilateral T20I series between the two teams was also played in the UAE in March 2023 and saw Afghanistan beat Pakistan across formats for the first time and also record their first series win. In what remains their last meeting, Afghanistan secured their maiden ODI win over Pakistan during the 50-over World Cup in 2023.

Pakistan and UAE have never played each other outside a multi-team tournament. They first played each other in a six-team Austral-Asia Cup in 1994 and then came face to face in the 1996 and 2015 50-over World Cups. Their last meeting came in the 2016 Asia Cup in Bangladesh.