Afghanistan will play four Tests in 2026, more than in any year before, and none of them at home

Afghanistan’s next home season starts on 9 October and runs to 17 November. Not one ball of it will be bowled in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board confirmed on Tuesday that Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will both tour for a programme covering all three formats, played entirely in the United Arab Emirates. The venues have not been named yet.

What is on, and when

The season opens with a one-off Test against Bangladesh from 9 to 13 October. An ODI tri-series follows, with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe meeting on 17 October, Afghanistan playing Zimbabwe on the 19th and Bangladesh on the 21st, and the top two going into a final on 23 October.

Zimbabwe then stay on for the rest of it. Three T20Is on 27 and 29 October and 1 November, then two Tests, the first from 5 to 9 November and the second from 13 to 17 November.

The opening Test starts six days after the Asian Games T20 final in Japan, which Afghanistan will be trying to reach. That is a short turnaround from a T20 tournament in Aichi to a red-ball match in the Gulf, and it is the sort of scheduling a board without a home ground ends up accepting.

Four Tests in a calendar year, a first for them

Add the three matches announced on Tuesday to the Test Afghanistan have already played this year and the total reaches four, more than they have managed in any previous calendar year.

Indian readers will remember the one already in the books. Afghanistan went to the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh in June and lost by an innings and 300 runs inside three days, India’s biggest Test win. Manav Suthar took 6 for 33 on debut, Afghanistan were bowled out for 152 and 112, and the match finished on 8 June.

So the red-ball year so far reads: one Test, three days, beaten by an innings and 300. The next three come against opposition much closer to their own level, which is presumably the point of arranging them.

A home season with no home in it

Afghanistan have been a Full Member since June 2017 and have never staged a Test inside the country. Security and logistics have ruled it out throughout, and their home matches have been shared between the UAE’s main grounds and Dehradun, Lucknow and Greater Noida in India.

Of the five home Tests they have hosted, three were in the UAE, and they have not used any single ground more than twice. Every other Full Member has a ground where the side knows the pitch and the crowd knows the players. Afghanistan have never had one.

ACB chief executive Naseeb Khan framed the announcement around access to cricket rather than anything else. “We are pleased to confirm this important period of international cricket for the Afghanistan National Team,” he said, thanking the Bangladesh and Zimbabwe boards for making the fixtures possible.

Bangladesh chief executive Nizam Uddin Chowdhury pointed to the value of the red-ball work, calling the trip a chance for his players to get used to Test cricket in the UAE. Zimbabwe’s managing director Givemore Makoni described it as an important tour across all three formats.

Six weeks of international cricket, ten matches, three formats, and a host nation that will spend the whole of it a couple of thousand kilometres from home.

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