Sri Lanka have indefinitely postponed their white-ball tour of Afghanistan in the United Arab Emirates after rising tensions in West Asia made the six-match series impossible to stage safely.
The tour, which was scheduled to run from March 13 to 25, was meant to feature three T20Is and three ODIs across Sharjah and Dubai.
The decision comes as the escalating conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt travel and airspace across the region, making logistics increasingly complicated for international teams. With flights affected and security concerns growing by the day, both cricket boards agreed the series could not realistically go ahead as planned.
“We had to cancel because of the flight situation and the ongoing fighting in the region,” a Sri Lanka Cricket official told AFP.
The series was set to kick off with three T20 internationals in Sharjah on March 13, 15 and 17, before shifting to Dubai for three One-Day Internationals on March 20, 22 and 25. It was also expected to be a landmark moment, as Afghanistan were preparing to host Sri Lanka for the first time in a bilateral series, even though it was being played at a neutral venue.
But the rapidly escalating situation across West Asia forced administrators into a late rethink. The tensions intensified after the United States and Israel carried out strikes on Iran on February 28, which triggered retaliatory attacks from Tehran. The fallout has affected airspace across the Gulf, with Dubai airport briefly shutting operations over the weekend as drones and missiles were launched across the region.
With flight routes disrupted and uncertainty hanging over travel schedules, moving players, support staff and equipment into the UAE became a major challenge. Reports suggest both the Afghanistan Cricket Board and Sri Lanka Cricket reached a mutual understanding that pushing ahead with the tour simply wasn’t practical under the circumstances.
Afghanistan, of course, remain one of the few international teams that still cannot host matches on home soil because of security concerns. As a result, they regularly stage their home series in places like India or the UAE, which made this tour another important addition to their international calendar.
The postponement also means a couple of intriguing storylines will have to wait. Afghanistan opener Ibrahim Zadran was expected to begin his stint as captain during the series, while it would also have been the first assignment for Sri Lanka’s newly appointed head coach Gary Kirsten.
The wider geopolitical tensions have also spilled over into the cricketing world in other ways. Several teams that had been travelling through the region after the recently concluded T20 World Cup have faced delays due to flight disruptions.
Source: India Today
--Agencies
