In preparation for the much-awaited T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the USA in June, Pakistan will travel to Ireland in May to face Ireland in a three-match T20I series.
The two sides have not met since 2018. This will be their first encounter. In Pakistan’s first-ever Test match, held in The Village in Malahide, Dublin, six years ago, Sarfaraz Khan’s team beat Ireland by five wickets. The COVID-19 pandemic caused Pakistan to postpone two Twenty20 international matches that were originally slated to take place in Dublin in July 2020.
The Men in Green will now play the three Twenty20 Internationals at Castle Avenue in Dublin on May 10, 12, and 14, according to a recent announcement by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Pakistan will now have 12 T20I matches before the T20 World Cup, thanks to the addition of this series. Before starting the Ireland tour, they are expected to host New Zealand for a five-match Twenty20 International series the following month. The Men in Green will travel to England to play four Twenty20 internationals just prior to the main event.
Pakistan came to New Zealand to play five Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) in January, their most recent series also against the Kiwis. Prior to the visitors’ victory in the meaningless last Twenty20 International, the hosts had won the previous four matches.
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However, Ireland just played Afghanistan in a multi-format series in the United Arab Emirates. Following their historic victory in their maiden Test match, the Irish team lost the ODI and T20I series.
In May, Pakistan was also supposed to play three more Twenty20 internationals against the Netherlands.
But in November 2023, the PCB requested an indefinite postponement of that series. At the time, high-performance manager Roland Lefebvre of the Netherlands cricket board, Kimonolike Nederland’s Cricket Board, acknowledged to ESPNcricinfo that the tour had been postponed due to conflicts in scheduling and player workload. The PCB had previously said they were trying to identify a new time slot for the series to be rescheduled.
In the T20 World Cup, Pakistan, Ireland, and Canada are all in Group A together with India, the United States, and Canada.