Afghanistan Cricket Board gets new chairman post-Taliban takeover

Azizullah Fazli has been re-named chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) in the first major development in the game's national governing body since the Taliban took control of the nation.

"He will oversee ACB's leadership and course of action for the upcoming competitions," the ACB said in a post on Twitter on Sunday.

According to ESPNCricinfo, Taliban members met ACB officials on Sunday after which Fazli returned to the post he had vacated after Afghanistan came last in the 2019 World Cup in England.

Farhan Yusefzai has held the post since then.

The Taliban have said they would not interfere with men's cricket in the country, Afghanistan's biggest sporting success of recent years. The fate of women's programme, however, remains unclear.

The men's team are scheduled to play a three-match one-day series against Pakistan in Sri Lanka, next month but commercial flights from Kabul airport are yet to resume.

According to media reports, the team might travel to Pakistan by road and fly to Colombo from there.

Afghanistan's home series moved to Pakistan from Sri Lanka

The ODI series between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been moved to Pakistan from Sri Lanka due to logistical issues.

The three-match series was supposed to start in Hambantota on September 3 but commercial flights have been suspended in Kabul following Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.

ESPNcricinfo reported that it will remain a home series for Afghanistan. 

Also, a 10-day lockdown has been imposed in Sri Lanka due to rise in COVID-19 cases.

The venues for the series in Pakistan are yet to be announced.

All format Pakistan players including skipper Babar Azam are expected to be rested for the series as part of their workload management ahead of T20 World Cup.