Afghanistan to play its maiden Test with India

Mumbai [India], December 11 (ANI): Afghanistan will play their first Test match in India against the current world No.1 Test nation.

The CEO of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Rahul Johri, and the Chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) Atif Mashal took to the social media to announce the deal.

The fixture came as the BCCI agreed in principle to the next stage of cricket's Future Tours Programme (FTP) at a special general meeting.

No dates have been slated for Afghanistan's historic first Test match, although it is expected to be in 2018.

It is understood that both the boards would be meeting in a week's time in Dubai to finalise the schedule.

Afghans were scheduled to play their first Test in 2019 versus Australia. But considering the historic relationship between India and Afghanistan, we decided to host their first Test with us," BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary said.

Afghanistan, along with Ireland, was awarded Test status by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in June this year. Ireland will play their first Test match against Pakistan in May 2018.

Initially, Zimbabwe was scheduled to play Afghanistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before travelling to Bangladesh early next year. However, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) informed ACB that it wanted to focus on the World Cup Qualifiers in March and therefore not increase its players' workload.

ACB Chairman Mashal said: "It will be a historic Test match. We would like to thank the BCCI for granting this opportunity to us and accepting our request."

With India travelling overseas for the most of 2018, the Afghanistan-India fixture is likely to be scheduled ahead of India's tour to Australia in late 2018. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI