Afghanistan cricket team will have to wait at least next seven months to sport the Test whites again following their recent maiden Test match in India, as the Afghan side reportedly are planning to play Ireland in the longest format of the game next year in February 2019.

However, Sportstar Live made it all clear that there isn’t any final confirmation regarding the same from the Afghanistan Cricket Association (ACA) or neither the exact dates have been finalized by both countries.

Afghanistan and Ireland received Test status together last year in June and both countries have already played their maiden Test –against India and Pakistan respectively. If this Test series gets finalized, then it will be the second Test campaign for the both newest Test playing nations.

Now, Afghanistan is all set to visit Ireland for a limited-overs series in August 2018, while Ireland will also host India for two T20Is later this month before playing them at home.

ACB CEO, Shafiq Stanikzai, told SportStar, “We need to invest more on Test cricket, though it is a challenging task for us as a cricket board, in terms of finance (to host Test matches).”

Stanikzai signed off by saying, “We need to install a comprehensive development programme for our junior sides like U-23 and ‘A’ side. But we need to convince ourselves that if we want to become good cricketing and good Test playing team by 2022, we need to invest more on that.”

Noteworthy, Afghanistan has massive support of the BCCI, as they have made it clear to all international teams touring India to play at least one practice game with Afghanistan whether it would be the A team or senior team, in a bid to help them in getting better at the game.