Afghanistan Cricket Team is all set to play their first-ever Test against Australia. The one-off Test will take place at the Optus Stadium in Perth from December 7 to December 11. Originally the Test match between the two nations was scheduled to be contested from November 21 to 25. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers had to postpone the encounter.
Afghanistan Cricket Board’s interim chief executive Nazim Zar Abdulrahimzai confirmed the news. The chief executive also added that he was sure that Cricket Australia would accept ACB’s request of hosting the one-off Test as a day game rather than playing under lights.
Afghanistan to play Test against Australia
After the conclusion of the Indian Premier League, both teams will have a camp based in the UAE. The Afghanistan cricket team is also likely to play a practice game before they play the one-off Test at Perth.
”We are going to play the one-off Test series against Australia in December,” said Nazir, and added that they will also be completing the 14-day quarantine period. “We have requested them to play a normal Test match instead of the day-night Test match, as we have not played a D/N Test earlier.
Our camp will be based in UAE ahead of the Australia tour, where we are expected to play a practice game before the lone Test”, said Nazim Zar Abdulrahimzai.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan who received the Test status from ICC in 2017 has so far only played four Test matches, in which they have won 2 and also lost 2matches. Afghanistan’s recently-appointed director of cricketer Raees Ahmadzai said that the board would have a definite idea about whether the Test would be played under lights or not by the end of the week.
“We will be forming the team for a good match against Australia. After Saturday we will be in a good position to know about whether it would be a D/N Test or not,” he said.
