Afghanistan board draws up contingency plan for travel, as no commercial flights have taken off from Kabul since the Taliban’s takeover of the country
The series is due to begin on September 3, and will involve a three-day quarantine period on arrival for both sides.
That commitment, as well as an Afghanistan Under-19 tour to Bangladesh later in September, have been the focus of immediate concern though ACB CEO Hamid Shinwari had said that both tours were going to be on schedule, pending logistical issues around the departure of the sides.
“Cricket is doing very well,” Shinwari told ESPNcricinfo earlier this week. “We are going to the office (ACB). The cricket team is preparing for the Pakistan series in Sri Lanka. It is confirmed. We are committed to sending a team to Sri Lanka as soon as possible. There is transition going on here in Afghanistan hence there is a vacuum in flight operations and availability is affected. But we will fly out as soon as we find a flight. We have our boys assembled in Kabul and they are preparing for the series.
“We hope the squad will depart in the next four days. We have updated both the PCB and Sri Lanka Cricket and both are on board. I am thankful to SLC for hosting us and that is really generous of them.”
More to follow…
Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent