Afghanistan-Pakistan ODI series moved to Sri Lanka from UAE owing to IPL 2021

Pakistan's three-match ODI series against Afghanistan has been moved to Sri Lanka from the actual venue of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the series to begin on September 1 and end on September 5. 

According to an ESPNcricinfo report, the bilateral series won't take place in UAE due to the resumption of IPL 2021, which will take place in the Gulf nation. In May, the BCCI was forced to suspend the IPL midway because of the rising COVID-19 cases in the second wave of the pandemic in India. 

This will be the first time the two Asian sides will play each other in any bilateral series, though both have played four times in multi-team tournaments like World Cup and Asia Cup with Pakistan emerging victorious in all four matches. The bilateral series is also a part of the ICC Super League where Pakistan currently stands fifth and Afghanistan are eighth. 

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan are clubbed together in the Group 2 of the ICC T20 World Cup to be played in the October-November window in UAE itself. 

The three ODI games will be hosted at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Hambantota where the last international match was played between Sri Lanka and West Indies in February 2020. 

Paksitan cricket team is scheduled to play West Indies five T20Is and two Tests with tour commencing on July 27 while Afghanistan last played an international match against Zimbabwe back in March.