Afghan players to take road to Pakistan on way to Sri Lanka

The Afghanistan cricket team is looking to travel to Pakistan by road on Sunday before leaving for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Islamabad by flight on its way to Colombo. The Rashid Khan-led team is due to play three ODIs against Pakistan in Sri Lanka from September 3.

All the matches are set to be played in Hambantota which is 238 km from Colombo.

"All the Afghanistan players have got visas and they will enter Pakistan through the Turkham border, the busiest port of entry between the two countries," a source aware of the development told IANS.

The Turkham border crossing connects Afghanistan's Nangarhar province with Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The drive from Kabul to Peshawar through the Turkham border is three-and-a-half hour long. The team will likely fly to Islamabad from Peshawar and from there to the UAE.

The Afghanistan team will then fly to Colombo from UAE.

Afghanistan witnessed a sudden change in rule this month after Taliban took over the country with president Ashraf Ghani escaping and going into exile.

Cricket, however, is likely to proceed unhindered as the eighth edition of the Shpageeza Cricket League, their franchise-based T20 tournament on the lines of the Indian Premier League, Big Bash League and Pakistan Super League, will be held at the Kabul Cricket Stadium from September 10 to 25.