Sports Desk: After a gap of twenty years, a trilateral cricket series is set to take place in Pakistan. New Zealand and South Africa will participate in this One Day International (ODI) series to be held in Pakistan.
The trilateral series is expected to take place in February next year, just before the Champions Trophy. Approval for organizing the series has been granted by the ICC.
According to a press release from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), successful discussions were held today in Dubai among PCB Chairman Mohsin Khan, South Africa’s Lawson Naidoo, and New Zealand’s Roger Twose, leading to this decision.
The last ICC event held in Pakistan was in 1996. Pakistan aims to host the Champions Trophy next year. PCB Chairman Mohsin Khan stated in the press release, “The trilateral series between Pakistan, South Africa, and New Zealand will be exciting, and it’s been a long time since Pakistan has hosted such a tournament.
PCB is looking forward to hosting the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025. Being the host of the tournament featuring the top eight teams will be a source of great joy.”
The last trilateral series hosted by Pakistan was in 2004, involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. After the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009, international cricket returned to Pakistan in 2020.
Additionally, next month, New Zealand will tour Pakistan to play a five-match T20 series. This information was confirmed by the PCB last Wednesday.
There was a time when trilateral ODI series were quite common in cricket. However, the latest ODI trilateral series was held in 2019 in Ireland, where Bangladesh, Ireland, and the West Indies competed.