BCCI confirms schedule for India vs Afghanistan T20I series

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed the dates and venue of the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, which is scheduled to happen in the middle of September. It was late at night on August 11 when the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) revealed the agreed dates of the T20Is. 

India are currently preparing for the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, beginning on August 15 and ending on August 27. After that, their next series will be the Afghanistan T20Is, followed by the home series against West Indies from September 27. That rules out the possibility of their Bangladesh trip, which was supposed to be sandwiched between the ends of August and September.  

India take on Afghanistan on September 13, 15 and 17 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi

The ACB and the BCCI stated that the matches will be played on September 13, 15, and 17 respectively at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. This has ruled out BCCI’s plan to face Bangladesh in the white-ball series, with the Asian Games also starting on September 17 and running till October 03 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

The BCCI confirmed that the series shows its support for the ACB, with the president Mithun Manhas speaking on the three games of the shortest format.

“The BCCI remains committed to supporting the growth of cricket in Afghanistan and providing its players with opportunities to compete at the highest level. Bilateral cricket is an important part of this, as it allows teams to play regularly against quality opposition and gain valuable experience.” Manhas expressed.

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“We welcome the Afghanistan Cricket Board to India for this series and look forward to working closely with them to make it a successful one. We believe there is scope to do more together and will continue to support Afghanistan cricket while strengthening the relationship between the two cricketing nations.” The BCCI president addressed.

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The BCCI secretary, Devajit Saikia, has revealed that the rivalry between the two Asian sides has produced some fierce contests over the years, with quality in both bat and ball in hand.

“India hosting Afghanistan for their historic first Test in 2018 was another significant milestone in this journey, and since then, we have continued to see regular bilateral engagements between the two teams. We recently hosted Afghanistan for a Test and ODI series in June, and this T20I series will mean the two teams have now competed against each other across all three formats.” Saikia added.

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India and Afghanistan have faced each other in eight completed T20Is, with the Shreyas Iyer-led side leading the head-to-head with seven victories, while the Rashid Khan-led side had zero wins, with one game ending in a no-result.

The last T20I encounter between the two sides came in the T20 World Cup 2024, where the blue brigade earned the win by 47 runs in Barbados.