PESHAWAR:The Afghanistan U-19 cricket team, going to Dhaka for series, Thursday arrived in Peshawar and was warmly received at the Pak-Afghan border Torkham by the Pakistani security officials.
Talking to reporter Afghanistan Team Coach Raees Ahmadzai said that soon after reaching Peshawar, the team was shifted to a local hotel where after a night stay, the team will leave for Islamabad in the morning and at 2.00
take a flight to Karachi to proceed to Qatar at 5.30 p.m in the afternoon.
He said after Qatar the team will visit Dhaka, Bangladesh to play five One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and one 4-Day against Bangladesh U19 team. It is worth mentioning here that the same Afghanistan team also played at series involving Pakistan, Afghanistan and China in Beijing in January this year.
Coach Afghanistan team Raees Ahmadzai said that all the 26 members of the Afghanistan cricket contingent are staying in a local hotel including 19 players and seven officials. The seven officials include team manager, trainer, doctor, head coach, bowling, batting and fielding coaches.
“I am happy the way the team of Afghanistan was warmly received at the Torkham border by the Pakistani security officials,” Team coach Rais Ahmadzai added.
The Afghanistan U-19 cricket team will travel to Islamabad via bus after staying in Peshawar, then to Karachi on a flight and from there to Qatar and Bangladesh. About the captain, he said, they have a total 19 players but the team management has not yet decided to name a team captain. It would be decided later on, he said. The player is excited and will go to Afghanistan after winning the series Insha Allah, Raees Ahmadzai said.
Answering a question, he said, the change of government has not had any big impact on cricket and hopefully the boys would play their game against Bangladesh U19 team and would try to win the series. This is the first tour of the cricket team in Afghanistan since the fall of the Ashraf Ghani’s government and take over by Taliban.