Pakistan to tour Zimbabwe for limited-overs series

The tour will begin with Twenty20s in between September 26-30 before both teams compete in three ODIs in early October.

The visit which was previously planned for August 17 till September 7 got deferred by “mutual agreement”, presumably because Pakistan did not want to risk their chances of qualification for the 2017 Champions Trophy.

Zimbabwe has withdrawn from tri-series and has sent initial schedule of bilateral series to PCB, as mentioned by which the two Twenty20 matches are scheduled last week of September and three One-Day Internationals will be played in first week of October.

“We have dealt with the tour outline with my PCB counterpart Shahryar Khan”. Pakistan are now eighth in the ODI rankings with 90 points, while West Indies are ninth with 88; the result of the Zimbabwe series will not affect Pakistan’s position.

Zimbabwe Cricket Chairman Wilson Manase on Wednesday said Pakistan’s limited-overs series with Zimbabwe would be held next month.

The tour also comes after Pakistan hosted Zimbabwe in May and June, the first visit to the militancy-hit South Asian country by a Test-playing team in six years.

Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent.