BCB in ‘final phase’ over talks for Afghanistan ODIs

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is in talks with its Afghan counterparts to arrange a three-match ODI series as part of the national team's preparation for next year's ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

The Tigers are scheduled to travel to the Caribbean islands in November to play two Tests, three ODIs, and three T20Is against the West Indies. At the moment, this is the only ODI series scheduled for the Tigers before the Champions Trophy, slated to begin next February.

To make up for the lack of 50-over fixtures before the marquee event, BCB board president Faruque Ahmed said on Thursday that the board hopes to arrange three more ODIs against Afghanistan in the UAE before the series against the Windies.

Bangladesh were scheduled to play an all-format series against Afghanistan in Greater Noida, India in July this year but that series got rescheduled. The proposed ODI series between the sides, however, is not part of that tour and will be a separate series, BCB's cricket operations in-charge Shahriar Nafees confirmed The Daily Star on Friday.

"We are in the final phase of discussion regarding the ODI series with the Afghanistan Cricket Board. This is not an FTP-scheduled series. We will play the FTP scheduled matches in two phases, next year and in 2026," Nafees said.

"We have only three ODIs against West Indies before going into the Champions Trophy. So we are planning to hold the matches to give our players enough 50-over matches before the ICC event," Nafees added.

Nafees also informed that the board will receive confirmation this week regarding the two-Test series against South Africa next month.