Ireland and Afghanistan on Monday confirmed their participation in a bilateral three-match Twenty20 International series, five One-Day International and a four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture in India next March. 

All the nine matches are set to be played at The Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, which is the adopted home ground of Afghanistan.

The two teams have played against each other in seven ODIs till date, with Ireland winning four and Afghanistan three. 

The recently-concluded series in Belfast finished with both sides winning two matches each.

John Bracewell, Ireland's head coach, was happy with the announcement and felt that it will give his players good exposure. 

He went on to add - 

“

Games between the sides are always competitive and I expect more of the same in this series. Its always good for a teams development to test themselves in different conditions, and theres no better place than India to do that.This will be a great opportunity for the squad to test themselves in nine matches across three formats.

”

Ireland are currently placed 12th in the ICC ODI Rankings, two places below Afghanistan. 

Over the last five years, both teams have witnessed a meteoric rise in world cricket and have upset some mighty teams during this course of time. 

Time and again, they have appealed to the ICC to arrange more matches with top teams across the world in order to allow their cricketers to grow.

Ireland, who have time and again, caused major upsets in ICC events, are languishing at the 15th position in the Twenty20 International rankings, having played only 11 T20 matches in the last one year.

Afghanistan, who have played 22 T20s in that period, are placed 9th - the best among Associate Nations, and above two Test-playing countries.

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