Another team could join Pakistan and Afghanistan to compete in a trilateral series later this year.
The upcoming bilateral T20I series between Pakistan and Afghanistan later this year could reportedly be turned into a trilateral series, with United Arab Emirates possibly joining the fray as the third team.
According to journalist Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi, because of the possibility of the 2025 Asia Cup T20 tournament being moved to UAE, sources within the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) have said that efforts are being made to include UAE and make it a tri-series.
“The PCB is currently in discussions with the UAE authorities to play a trilateral series which includes the hosts and Afghanistan,” a PCB source told the aforementioned journalist.
India are scheduled to host the 2025 Asia Cup in September. However, the future regarding this year’s tournament has been thrown into doubt amid political tensions between India and Pakistan.
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Both India and Pakistan had also signed an agreement earlier stating that neither of these teams would play at their rival’s country because of the political tensions. Pakistan hosted the 2025 Champions Trophy earlier this year, but India played all their matches in Dubai.
The last time Pakistan and Afghanistan locked horns in a bilateral T20I series was in 2023, when UAE hosted the series. Later in 2023, Afghanistan had beaten Pakistan by eight wickets in their league stage clash of the ODI World Cup.
Pakistan have never locked horns against UAE outside multi-national competitions. The two teams first locked horns in the Austral-Asia Cup in 1994 as well as the 1996 and 2015 ODI World Cups. The latest faceoff between the two teams was during the 2016 Asia Cup in Bangladesh.
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