Border clashes with Pakistan: Afghanistan may backout from T20 Tri-Series, PCB switches to brainstorming mode

The recent clashes along the Durand Line mean Afghanistan may pull out of the T20 Tri-Series being hosted by Pakistan. Sensing a roadblock, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has started working on an alternative plan, reports said.

 

The triangular series, also involving Sri Lanka, is scheduled to be held from November 17–29.

 

"The PCB chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, has asked the International Cricket Council to start working on an alternative plan as he wants the Tri-Series to go ahead," a source was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

 

If this series is finalised, it will definitely put the PCB at odds with Cricket Australia, which has signed some Pakistan players for the Big Bash after being assured that they would be given NOCs for the whole tournament, which is scheduled in December and January.

 

Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hassan Khan, Haris Rauf, and Hasan Ali were all signed up by Big Bash teams, with Babar, Rizwan, and Shaheen set to make their first appearances in the T20 league.

 

"Obviously, if the series with Sri Lanka is finalised, then either the selectors play without these players or the duration of their NOCs will have to be reconsidered by the PCB, meaning a disagreement with Cricket Australia," the source said.

 

After the PCB recently announced it had suspended all NOCs issued to players for different leagues, Cricket Australia got in touch to resolve the situation.

 

Following repeated terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan had launched an air raid over Kabul, targeting the leadership of the banned Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Pakistan has long been maintaining that Afghan soil was being used as a base by terrorist organisations to attack Pakistan.

 

Things escalated when the Taliban retaliated, claiming the lives of several Pakistani soldiers. While the Taliban administration claimed to have killed 58 soldiers of Pakistan, Islamabad said that at least 200 soldiers were lost on the other side.

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