Pakistan & Afghanistan 2023 T20I Series Schedule, Team Squads & Live Streaming Partners
Afghanistan Cricket Board faced a stand-off with Cricket Australia recently when CA decided to cancel the ODI series against Afghanistan in March on the issue of further restrictions on women’s and girls’ education” in Afghanistan. This was the 2nd time Cricket Australia canceled the Men’s series citing issues for Women’s Cricket and Education rights for girls. Afghanistan Cricketers like Rashid Khan & Naveen-ul-Haq threatened to boycott Big Bash League because of the huge disappointment and political move made by the CA as defined by cricketers and Afghanistan Cricket Board. After this whole Saga, ACB requested PCB to play an ODI series on the exact dates to cover up the gap of the canceled series.
Pakistan & Afghanistan 2023 T20I Series Schedule
It has been confirmed by the Chairman PCB, Mr. Najam Sethi that the first-ever bilateral series against both nations will be played between March 24 and 27 at Sharjah Cricket Ground. The T20I series comprised of three T20I matches.
This series was won by Afghanistan by 2-1 and it’s a great challenge to see whether team Afghanistan can continue their dominance in ODI format now for Afghanistan vs Pakistan in Sri Lanka 2023 series which is being played just before the Asia Cup 2023.
| Date | Match | Venue | Time |
| 24th March 2023 | Pakistan vs Afghanistan, 1st T20I | Sharjah Cricket Stadium | 08:30 PM |
| 26th March 2023 | Pakistan vs Afghanistan, 2nd T20I | Sharjah Cricket Stadium | 08:00 PM |
| 27th March 2023 | Pakistan vs Afghanistan, 3rd T20I | Sharjah Cricket Stadium | 08:30 PM |
Why Series Format Changed?
It is to keep note that originally Afghanistan Cricket Board had asked the PCB to play an ODI series as part of the WorldCup Super League but PCB wanted to play a T20I series instead because both Pakistan & Afghanistan are already qualified for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup scheduled to be played in India later this year.
Chairman PCB. gave a statement regarding this series which is as follows.
I met with the executive members of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and they were asking us to play an (ODI) series but we didn’t find any attraction in playing the series. It’s mainly because the series was meant for the [Super League] points, and now no matter who wins it won’t make a difference. So we agreed to play a series of three T20Is in Sharjah just after the PSL subject to government approval. We will share 50% of the revenue from the series equally. And we will jointly outsource the production”
Najam Sethi – PCB Chairman
PAK vs AFG 2023 T20I Series TV Channels & Live Streaming Partners
PCB & ACB are all set to hire a world cup production partner for this historic bilateral series and they will jointly pay the expenses for this series. Pakistan & Afghanistan 2023 T20I Series will be broadcasted all around the world in HD and Ultra HD quality.
Cricket fans in Afghanistan can easily watch the live coverage on RTA Live as well as Sony Television Network while cricket fans in Pakistan will be able to watch the whole series live on PTV Sports & A Sports HD. My personal favorite is to watch it live for free on the ARYZAP application which is available on both Android & iOS ecosystems.
| Country | Live Telecast / Live Streaming | Channel Name |
| Pakistan | Live Telecast on TV | PTV Sports & A Sports HD |
| Pakistan | Live Streaming | ARYZAP |
| Afghanistan | Live Telecast on TV | RTA |
| Afghanistan | Live Streaming | YuppTv |
| India | Live Telecast on TV | Sony Sports Network |
| Bangladesh | Live Telecast on TV | GTV |
| Sri Lanka | Live Telecast on TV | SLRC (Channel Eye) |
| South Africa | Live Telecast on TV | SuperSport |
| New Zealand | Live Telecast on TV | Sky Sport NZ |
| USA & Canada | Live Telecast | Willow TV |
| England | Live Telecast on TV | Sky Sports Cricket |
| MENA | Live Telecast on TV | beIN Sports |
Team Squads For Pakistan & Afghanistan 2023 T20I Series
The official team squads for Pakistan & Afghanistan 2023 T20I Series has not been confirmed as of yet but looking at the last series both nations played we can predict the below-mentioned team squads for Pakistan & Afghanistan 2023 T20I Series.
Pakistan Squad (Predicted):
Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Shan Masood.
Afghanistan Squad (Predicted):
Rashid Khan (c), Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Qais Ahmad, Salim Safi, Usman Ghani.
We will update team squads if any changes are made in the official announcement from both cricket boards and one can expect nearly 90% same players to feature in the upcoming T20I series which is to be played just after the PSL 2023.
Pakistan & Afghanistan 2023 T20I Series Prediction
Pakistan Cricket Team in the T20I format is by far the most formidable team in the circuit due to many great resources in the batting as well as in the bowling department. So all the cricket odds are with the Pakistan Cricket team winning this T20I series by 3-0 or 2-1. Afghanistan will be very happy if they manage to win a single T20I game in this series as that will also create history by winning the first-ever game against Pakistan.
That being said, T20 format is a funny format and any team can beat any team no matter the squad strengths and team Afghanistan is surely capable to utilize the UAE spin-friendly conditions at their disposal and defeat Pakistan in their 1st ever T20I bilateral series.
