KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) – Afghanistan’s cricket board announced on Wednesday that the country will play three one-day internationals against the Netherlands in Qatar next month.
The one-day internationals will be part of the International Cricket Council’s Super League, which will act as qualification for the 2023 World Cup.
“Afghanistan will host the Netherlands in three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) on January 21, 23, and 25, to be played at the Asian Town cricket stadium in Doha, Qatar,” according to a press statement from the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
The one-day league has nine of the top ten rated ODI teams, from which seven countries will qualify for the World Cup, with India receiving a straight admission as the hosts.
Afghanistan will play the Netherlands in their second ODI league series after defeating Ireland 3-0 in Abu Dhabi last year.
“Afghanistan will also host Australia and Pakistan in the One-Day International league before travelling to India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka for the remaining series,” according to the release.
Afghanistan qualified for the 50-over World Cups in 2015 and 2019.
In addition, they competed in the Twenty20 World Cup in October and November, losing three of their five games and failing to advance to the semi-finals.
Since the Taliban took over the government in September, Qatar has become the new home for Afghanistan cricket.
They formerly played international matches in India and the United Arab Emirates at neutral grounds.
Following the Taliban’s prohibition on women playing cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) established a working group last month to observe and analyse the sport in Afghanistan.
As a result, Australia postponed last month’s Test match against Afghanistan, requesting that the ban on women be reversed.
According to ICC rules, all member countries must have active men’s and women’s teams.