The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced late Friday that it is pulling out of a tri-nation T20I series scheduled to be held in Pakistan next month. The decision came after the ACB alleged that a military strike by Islamabad resulted in the deaths of three Afghan cricketers.
Although there was no official confirmation from the Pakistani government or military, security sources reported that Pakistan had conducted fresh operations against terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan on Friday. The sources cited incidents in the Angoor Adda region, as well as Urgun and Barmal districts of Paktika province, stating that precision strikes targeted bases of the outlawed Hafiz Gul Bahadur group and killed dozens of militants.
These reported strikes occurred shortly after a major gun-and-bomb assault on a military installation in North Waziristan and followed an extension of a two-day ceasefire between Islamabad and Kabul.
In a social media post on platform X, the ACB identified the three deceased players as Kabeer, Sibghatullah, and Haroon, stating they were killed alongside five other individuals from Urgun district, with seven more injured. The board noted that the cricketers had previously traveled to Sharana to take part in a friendly match.
“The ACB considers this a great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family,” the statement read. Consequently, the board decided to withdraw from the tri-series scheduled for November.
Afghanistan’s star spinner Rashid Khan endorsed the ACB’s decision in his own post on X, expressing his support for the withdrawal from the upcoming fixtures against Pakistan.
The series, which was also to include Sri Lanka, was set to be hosted by Pakistan from November 17 to 29.
In response, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesperson Amir Mir told media that the tri-series is still scheduled to proceed, and a replacement for the Afghan team will be finalized shortly.
