Bangladesh likely to host Afghans before England

Bangladesh, before taking on England in a bilateral home series, is likely to host Afghanistan for an ODI series. Bangladesh Cricket Board's cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan informed that the exact dates are yet to be finalised with the Afghanistan Cricket Board and that the two boards are currently in discussion. The ongoing discussion with the ACB was initiated by the BCB in its effort to organise an ODI series at home before England's arrival. The English side is scheduled to reach Dhaka on September 30 for three ODIs and two Test matches. The ODI series will begin on October 7. The BCB is also in talks with one other team, apart from Afghanistan, for the home series. "We are still in discussion with the needed personnel (and boards) but we cannot confirm anything at the moment. I hope we will be able to reach a conclusion soon and it will be informed accordingly,” said Akram. Meanwhile, ACB media manager Aziz Gharwal confirmed that they are in talks with the BCB. "We are in talks with the BCB to play the series next month but we are yet to sign the Memorandum of Understanding. We haven't yet set dates for the matches but we will soon publish them on our website" said Gharwal. If finalised, it will be the first ODI series between Bangladesh and Afghanistan and the Tigers’ first 50-over match since last November. This year Bangladesh have only played six Twenty20 internationals when they appeared in the 2016 World T20 in India four months ago.