Afghanistan will reportedly meet Pakistan in a Twenty20 fixture in Sharjah on December 8, as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Afghanistan and Pakistan cricket boards.
According to the Daily Times, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will aid the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) in the lead-up to the 2015 World Cup under the MoU.
Expressing his excitement at the opportunity to play against a full member nation of the ICC, ACB chief executive Noor Mohammad Murad said that whatever the result, the experience gained by the Afghan players would be invaluable as they need the challenge of playing against elite cricket teams like Pakistan and Australia to raise their performance levels.
Hoping that more member nations will follow the example of Pakistan and Australia, Murad also said that the Afghanistan cricket team is among the top teams of the associate and affiliate members as they tend to win a high percentage of their matches against the member nations.
According to Murad, the Afghans can give the Pakistan team a good run for its money given that T20 is one of their strengths, adding that they had managed to give India a good scare in the World T20 Championship last year.
Afghanistan have played four T20s against full members, including South Africa, India and England, but those matches came in the 2010 and 2012 World Twenty20s, while they have played one ODI each against Pakistan and Australia last year, the report added.
