Dubai, Aug 1 (IANS) UAE will host Pakistan and Afghanistan in a seven-match T20I Tri-Series at the historic Sharjah Cricket Stadium from August 29. The three teams will play each other twice in the six-match group stage. The top two teams will then compete in the final on September 7.

Afghanistan will take on Pakistan in the tournament opener on August 29. Host UAE will open their campaign against Pakistan on August 30 followed by Afghanistan’s clash against UAE on September 1 and their second group-stage match against Pakistan on September 2.

Pakistan and UAE’s second group-stage match will be played on September 4 followed by the Afghanistan-UAE match on September 5.

The tournament will provide the ideal preparation opportunity to the three teams ahead of the eight-team ACC Asia Cup 2025 which will be played in the UAE from September 9.

According to the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, Pakistan were initially scheduled to host Afghanistan for a three-match T20I series during the window now taken up by the upcoming tri-series.

Among the three participating teams, Pakistan are the highest-ranked in the ICC T20I rankings at No. 8, followed by Afghanistan at No. 9 and UAE at No. 14.

Pakistan are currently playing a bilateral white-ball series against the West Indies, having won the opening game. Their Asia Cup campaign begins on September 12 against Oman. Afghanistan, who last played a T20I series in Zimbabwe at the end of the previous year, will open their Asia Cup campaign on September 9 against Hong Kong.

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have already secured direct qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan qualified by finishing among the top seven teams (excluding the hosts) in the last T20 World Cup, while Pakistan earned their spot based on their ICC ranking as of June 30, 2024 cut-off. UAE, however, are yet to confirm their place in the tournament and will need to go through the Asia-East Asia Pacific Qualifiers, scheduled in Oman from October 8 to 17.

–IANS

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