Sri Lanka Cricket announces change in venues for Afghanistan ODIs

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Tuesday (23rd January) announced a change in venues for the ODI series against Afghanistan. The two teams will be locking horns with each other in the three-match ODI series, to be played from 9th February to 14th February. 

The ODI series between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan was earlier scheduled to take place in Colombo. But now all three games of the series will be played at the International Cricket Stadium, as confirmed by Sri Lanka Cricket on Tuesday. 

Afghanistan will be touring Sri Lanka for the all-format tour. The two teams will first lock horns with each other in the one-off Test match from 2nd to 6th February at the SSC in Colombo. Following that ODIs will be played on the 9th, 11th, and 14 of February in Kandy. 

Following the conclusion of ODIs, Sri Lanka will host Afghanistan in a three-match T20I series. The first match will be played on 17th  February followed by the second and third games to be played on 19th and 21st February in Dambulla. The series will also be preparation for both teams for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. 

The Afghanistan team will be arriving in Sri Lanka on 30th January 2024 for the all-format tour. They would be hoping to have a great outing on the tour in all three formats. They couldn’t win a single game on their tour to India but challenged Men in Blue a lot in all three games. 

The ODI games of the Afghanistan Tour of Sri Lanka will be shifted to Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy.

The Afghanistan national team will arrive in Sri Lanka on January 30, 2024, for an all-format tour. #SLvAFG #LankanLions pic.twitter.com/OUCrXDcSqi

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) January 23, 2024

Sri Lanka on the other hand would be high on confidence after a rollicking outing in the ODIs and T20Is against Zimbabwe. It marked a new era in Sri Lanka cricket after a tough few months, where they had poor outings in the World Cup and also the entire board was sacked by the ICC. 

They had a change of the entire board and also saw new captains taking roles in different formats. While Kusal Mendis took over the charge in the ODIs, Wanindu Hasaranga was rewarded the leadership in the T20Is. In the Tests, Dhananjaya de Silva took over the captaincy. 

Sri Lanka clinch T20I series against Zimbabwe by 2-1 

The Sri Lanka cricket team were recently seen in action in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. The two teams were involved in a high-voltage series. But in the end, it was the island nation that clinched it by the margin of 2-1 by dominating the third game. 

In the first match, Sri Lanka restricted Zimbabwe to a total of 143 runs and chased the target on the last ball to win the game by 3 wickets. They took an early lead in the series but the visitors made a staggering comeback and clinched the second match by 4 wickets. They chased 20 runs in the last over. 

In the third match, Sir Lanka were all over Zimbabwe. They bundled them out for just 82 runs inside the 15 overs. With the bat, they were staggering as they chased the target inside 11 overs with 9 wickets in hand and won the series 2-1.