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The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced that they will host Bangladesh for a three-match ODI series in the UAE in November, to prepare for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. While the ACB didn’t announce the venues for the three ODIs, they confirmed that these matches are in lieu of the all-format series between Afghanistan and Bangladesh as per ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP), which couldn’t happen earlier this year.
Notably, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had made the decision to not tour India or the UAE to play against Afghanistan in June of this year, because of the high temperatures in the summer, according to the ESPNcricinfo report. This led to the postponement of Bangladesh touring to play against Afghanistan, but now, the respective cricket boards have taken the decision to have their teams play in a three-match ODI series, with matches on November 6, 9, and 11.
Afghanistan and Bangladesh to prepare for ICC Champions Trophy 2025 during three-match ODI series
The excerpts of the press release from the Afghanistan Cricket Board about the Bangladesh cricket team touring UAE, to play their team read, “Following extensive discussions, both boards have agreed to proceed with just the ODI leg, which will be crucial in both teams' preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy, which is set to take place in Pakistan in February next year.”
Earlier, the President of the BCB, Faruque Ahmed spoke about meeting the ACB officials on the sidelines of a meeting in Malaysia of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). He had remarked at the time, “I spoke to the officials of Afghanistan Cricket Board in Kuala Lumpur recently," Ahmed said. "We [were] trying to schedule three one-day matches against Afghanistan on our way to the West Indies.”
Moreover, after playing against Afghanistan in three ODIs in the UAE in early November, Bangladesh will be travelling to the Caribbean, to take on West Indies in a full-fledged tour involving two Tests, three ODIs, and three T20Is from mid-November onwards.
