Kabul: Afghanistan will square off against South Africa in a first-ever bilateral series as a three-match ODI series will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in September.

All three matches of the historic series between Afghanistan and South Africa will be held at the iconic Sharjah Cricket Stadium on September 18, 20 and 22 respectively. Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have affirmed that their national men’s teams will be colliding for the first time besides the International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments. For the unversed, Afghanistan and South Africa have locked horns twice in ODIs during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 and 2023 with the latter emerging victorious in both instances. The two sides faced each other thrice in T20Is in T20 World Cups 2010, 2016 and 2024. The Proteas boast the perfect record against Afghanistan in the shortest format as well. Their most recent meeting was when they locked horns in the semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. The aforementioned fixture was historic for both teams as it marked Afghanistan’s participation in their first-ever Cricket World Cup semi-final while South Africa emerged victorious to seal their maiden final qualification. Commenting on the development, CSA Chairman Lawson Naidoo termed their first-ever bilateral series against the emerging Asian side a “significant milestone”.

“We are excited to embark on this historic ODI series with Afghanistan, who have become a very competitive all-round team as evidenced by their recent performances in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and most recently at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024,” stated Naidoo. “This is a significant milestone in our cricketing relations, and we look forward to a competitive and entertaining series.” ACB Chairman Mirwais Ashraf, on the other hand, expressed his eagerness to host South Africa and also to play against them “regularly” in the future. “These fixtures were not initially part of our FTP. Still, based on our productive negotiations with our counterparts at Cricket South Africa, we concluded that we will host the Proteas for an ODI series in September. They are an excellent team, and we are eagerly looking forward to hosting them and playing them regularly in the future,” Ashraf said.