PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi forced to approach ICC after Afghanistan's U-turn on tri-series in Pakistan: Report

Afghanistan Cricket Board officials had recently dismissed rumours of cancelling their upcoming trip to Pakistan for a T20I triangular series, calling it “completely baseless and misleading”. However, amid rising tensions between the two nations with a conflict breaking out at the Durand Line between the Afghan Taliban forces and the Pakistan army, the ACB appears to have made a U-turn on its stance.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi, meanwhile, has approached the International Cricket Council (ICC) for an alternate plan amid doubts over the Afghanistan team traveling to Pakistan during an ongoing conflict – which escalated last week after the Pakistan armed forces reportedly carried out air strikes in Kabul last week.

“The PCB chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, has asked the International Cricket Council to start working on an alternate plan as he wants the tri-Series to go ahead,” a source was quoted by news agency Press Trust of India as saying.

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Afghanistan are scheduled to compete in a T20I triangular series alongside hosts Pakistan and Sri Lanka from 17 to 29 November, with Rawalpindi hosting the first two games and the remaining fixtures taking place in Lahore.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, are to arrive in Pakistan earlier with a three-match T20I series against the home team scheduled to take place ahead of the tri-series. In case of an Afghan pull-out, the PCB and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) might veer towards playing another three-match series in the same former, albeit hosted by the latter in January.

Pakistan faces tricky situation

Such a scenario, however, could complicate things for the PCB as well as Pakistani cricketers, several of whom are scheduled to participate in the next season of the Big Bash League.

Senior pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali have been signed by BBL franchises along with spin-bowling all-rounder Shadab Khan. Also included are former captains Babar Azam and  Mohammad Rizwan, neither of whom is part of the T20I setup at present.

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The proposed T20I series against Sri Lanka in January overlapping with the BBL could lead to a scenario where the Pakistanis could be forced to play without several leading players, or the PCB revokes its NOCs granted to the BBL-bound players. And that could lead to a confrontation with Cricket Australia, who claim to have included Pakistani cricketers in their promotional campaigns.

“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 added.