The Asia Cup, officially known as the ACC Men’s Asia Cup is a men's international cricket tournament contested between Asian countries in either One Day International format and Twenty20 International format every 2 years. It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countries being the only continental championship in cricket where the winning team becomes the champion of Asia. India are the current champions after winning the 2023 edition.
The Afghanistan men's national cricket team represents Afghanistan in international cricket. Cricket has been played in Afghanistan since the mid-19th century, but it was only in the early 21st century that the national team began to enjoy success. The Afghanistan Cricket Board was formed in 1995, becoming an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2001 and a member of the cricket confederation, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in 2003. After nearly a decade of playing international cricket, on 22 June 2017 full ICC Membership was granted to Afghanistan. Alongside Ireland, this took the number of Test cricket playing nations to twelve. Afghanistan is the first country to achieve Full Member status after holding Affiliate Membership of the ICC. In view of conflict and insecurity in Afghanistan, following this status, the team moved to a new home ground in Dehradun, in India. The current home ground of the Afghanistan Men's Cricket team is the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the UAE.
The Sharjah Cricket Stadium is in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It holds the record for being the venue that hosted the highest number of ODIs, 240 matches, up to December 2019. It was originally constructed in the early 1980s and has been much improved over the years. The stadium hosted its first international matches in April 1984, in the Asia Cup.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board is the official governing body of cricket in Afghanistan. It is Afghanistan's representative at the International Cricket Council (ICC) and was an associate member of ICC from June 2013 until becoming a full member in June 2017. Before that it was an affiliate member and has been a member of that body since 2001. It is also a member of the Asian Cricket Council.
Shapoor Zadran is an Afghan cricketer who currently plays for the national cricket team. He is a left-arm fast-medium bowler.
Cricket in Afghanistan is the most popular sport in the country, which is represented internationally by the Afghanistan national cricket team. Afghanistan's border with the Test playing nation of Pakistan has helped the game to take root. Pakistan's former batsman Inzamam ul Haq has coached the Afghan national team in the past. Afghanistan became a full member of the International Cricket Council on 22 June 2017, enabling the national team to participate in official Test matches.
The Zimbabwe A cricket team is a national cricket team representing Zimbabwe. It is the second-tier of international Zimbabwean cricket, below the full Zimbabwe national cricket team. Matches played by Zimbabwe A are not considered to be Test matches or One Day Internationals, instead receiving first-class and List A classification respectively. Zimbabwe A played their first match in January 1994, a four-day first-class contest against the touring South Africa A cricket team.
The Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex or Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground is a cricket and association football stadium in Greater Noida, India, and was the home ground of the Afghanistan national cricket team. In 2017, it lost its status to hold any Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) conducted matches after staging a private league which was not permitted by BCCI.
Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, also colloquially known as Dehradun Cricket stadium is a cricket stadium in Dehradun, Uttarakhand in India. It is the home ground of Uttarakhand cricket team.
Ekana Cricket Stadium also known as Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (BRSABV) Ekana Cricket Stadium is an international cricket stadium in Lucknow, India. The arena has a seating capacity of 50,000, and is the fifth largest international cricket stadium of India. In 2018, the stadium was renamed in honour of India's 10th Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was formerly named Ekana International Cricket Stadium, and locals prefer to address it as Ekana Cricket Stadium. As of 18 Jan 2024, it has hosted 1 Test, 9 ODIs and 6 T20Is.
The 2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies in January and February 2022 with sixteen teams taking part. It was the fourteenth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the first that was held in the West Indies. Bangladesh were the defending champions.
The 2017–18 international cricket season was from September 2017 to April 2018. 28 Test matches, 93 One Day Internationals (ODIs), and 44 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) were played during this period. Out of the 30 Test matches that were played four were day/night matches. The day/night Test match between South Africa and Zimbabwe was scheduled to last for only four days in duration, with the last such four-day Test match being played in 1973. The season started with India leading the Test cricket rankings, South Africa leading the ODI rankings, New Zealand leading the Twenty20 rankings, and England women leading the women's rankings. Additionally, the Laws of Cricket 2017 Code came into effect on 1 October 2017, superseding the 6th Edition of the 2000 Code of Laws, with many of the changes in the laws being incorporated into the ICC Standard Playing Conditions.
The Afghanistan cricket team toured India in June 2018 to play a one-off Test match against the India cricket team. It was Afghanistan's first Test since they were awarded the Test status by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in June 2017. India won the match in two days by an innings and 262 runs. Afghanistan were dismissed twice in the same day, only the fourth time this has happened in Tests. For India, it was their biggest win by an innings in Tests, and they became the first Asian team to win a Test match inside two days.
The Bangladesh cricket team toured India to play three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) against the Afghanistan cricket team in Dehradun.
The Ireland cricket team toured India in February and March 2019 to play three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and a Test match against the Afghanistan cricket team. It was Ireland's first Test played overseas and the first Test match between the two sides. All of the fixtures took place at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun. The ODI fixtures were part of Afghanistan's preparation for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. In January 2019, the fixtures were brought forward by two days, to avoid clashing with the Indian Premier League.
The Ireland cricket team toured India in March 2020 to play three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches against Afghanistan. On 11 January 2020, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed the fixtures for the three T20I matches.
The 2021–22 international cricket season took place from September 2021 to April 2022. 29 Tests, 111 One Day Internationals (ODIs), 112 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), 25 Women's One Day Internationals (WODIs), 40 Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), and two women's Test matches were scheduled to be played during this period. Additionally, a number of other T20I/WT20I matches were also scheduled to be played in series involving associate nations.
The Afghanistan cricket team were scheduled to tour Australia in November 2021 to play a one-off Test match. It would have been the first Test match to be played between the two teams. Originally the match was planned to take place in December 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2021, Cricket Australia confirmed the rescheduled dates of the match. However, in September 2021, Cricket Tasmania confirmed that the match would not be taking place following the Taliban offensive in Afghanistan, due to the Taliban not supporting women's cricket.
The Afghanistan cricket team toured Sri Lanka in November 2022 to play three One Day International (ODI) matches. These matches formed part of the inaugural 2020–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League. All three matches were played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. Sri Lanka recovered from losing the first match, and the second encounter ending with no result due to rain, to level the series in the third game.
