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Squad was held up in Dubai, waiting on visas to fly to the Caribbean for the tournament that begins on January 14
Afghanistan will leave for the Caribbean on January 12 to take part in the upcoming Under-19 World Cup, the ACB confirmed in a tweet on Tuesday. The team will be flying from Dubai, where they have been stationed since the end of the Under-19 Asia Cup that ended on December 31.
Earlier in the week, doubts had been cast over Afghanistan’s participation in the tournament due to visa glitches, with the ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley stating that the global governing body had been working closely with the ACB and other relevant stakeholders “to try and find a resolution to the problem and allow the team to travel.” As a result, Afghanistan’s two warm-up games, against England on January 10 and UAE on January 12, were cancelled.
Afghanistan are placed in Group C for the tournament, alongside Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea. As things stand, Afghanistan are set to open their tournament on January 16 against Zimbabwe in Diego Martin, Trinidad. It remains to be seen if this schedule can be stuck to, given various quarantine requirements.
This will be Afghanistan’s seventh appearance in the Under-19 World Cup. Since first qualifying in 2010, they’re made every subsequent edition. Their best finish came in 2018 in New Zealand, where they made the semi-finals.
This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.