Pakistan will not pull out of its upcoming bilateral series against Afghanistan, as Australia did, with PCB chairman Najam Sethi saying “cricket and politics should be kept separate”. However, the series in March will now consist of three T20Is and not ODIs and will be played at an offshore venue, with the Afghanistan and Pakistan boards sharing revenue 50-50.
“I met the executive members of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and they asked us to play the (ODI) series, but we didn’t get any attraction to play the series,” Sethi said at a press conference on Monday. “It’s mainly because the series was for [Super League] points, and now no matter who wins it will not matter. So we agreed to play a series of three T20Is in Sharjah immediately after the PSL, subject to government approval. We will equally share 50% of the revenue from the series. And we will jointly outsource the production.”
A bilateral series against Pakistan was to be hosted by Afghanistan in the United Arab Emirates in 2021, but had to be postponed following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as no commercial flights were operating from Kabul at the time.
The T20I series will be played from March 20 to 28. Pakistan is also scheduled to play a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan in August 2023.
