The Champions Trophy 2025 has ended. After this tournament, the Ireland cricket team was going to play home series against Afghanistan in different formats. But now he has given a big blow to the Afghanistan Cricket Board by canceling it. Surprisingly, the Ireland Cricket Board has stated the shortage of money behind this decision. However, it was being speculated that he had done so for political reasons while following the team of Australia and England. But the board of Ireland flatly denied this and said that at the moment it has to deal with the problem of budget.
According to ESPNcricinfo report, Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Dutrome has said that it was necessary to cancel the Afghanistan series. This step has been taken in view of the priorities of the board. The board is trying to invest some important, due to which there is a budget pressure. He made it clear that this step has not been taken due to political or human rights concerns.
According to the report, Ireland has to host the 2030 T20 World Cup with England and Scotland. Therefore, there is talk of constructing a permanent international stadium in Dublin. The Irish government has approved this project only in 2023 and its work is going on. The stadium is expected to be completed by 2028. Therefore, the board is facing the problem of money.
On the other hand, despite the cancellation of Afghanistan series, the International Calendar of Ireland cricket team is full of matches. Ireland is going to host West Indies ODI and T20 series in May and June under the latest Future Tour Program released. After that, a domestic T20 series will be played against England in September. This series is going to be historic in itself, because it will be its first domestic series against England.
The ICC gave the Ireland team the status of full member Nation in 2017. Despite spending 8 years, she has been able to play only 10 Test matches, out of which only two matches have been hosted by the board. He once again had a chance to host the Test match. But due to cancellation of Afghanistan series, this opportunity has also gone by hand. Apart from the series of 3 ODIs and 3 T20 matches between Ireland and Afghanistan, a Test series of 1 match was also to be played. Let me tell you, Ireland recently won his first Test against Afghanistan in UAE in 2024.
