KABUL: Afghanistan’s cricket team will be facing Pakistan for a white-ball series in September, ahead of the T20 World Cup in 2023, officials told Arab News on Monday.

The three-match series, which includes three One-Day Internationals (ODI) and an equal number of Twenty20 matches, will be held in the UAE.

“It’s very important for both countries because the winner of this series will have a better ranking for the World Cup,” Farid Hotak, media officer for the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), told Arab News.

He added that the series would be followed by matches against Australia, India and the West Indies.

Meanwhile, ACB Director Raees Ahmadzai said: “It is part of the ODI league matches to qualify for World Cup 2023 … we (have) played three matches already with Ireland and won all three.”

Both Hotak and Ahmadzai rejected media reports which claimed that the cricket matches were a result of a meeting between Afghan cricketer Mohammad Nabi and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier this year when Khan vowed to ensure a cricket series between the two neighbors.

Several Afghans, residing as refugees in Pakistan for the past few decades, have learnt to play the sport in the neighboring country. 

They have enjoyed global success in recent years by defeating more experienced and renowned cricketing nations.

Afghan cricketers have become a source of pride for the war-torn nation, both at home and abroad, with Rashid Khan, Nabi and Golbadin Naib among the most-recognized players internationally.

A recent escalation in violence across Afghanistan — part of decades of conflict in the war-ravaged nation — has also impacted the country’s sporting sector. Several sporting events, including a cricket match, have come under attack. 

In May 2018, at least eight people were killed and dozens injured in a series of blasts during a cricket match in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad.