Pakistan-Ireland cricket series postponed over scheduling issues

Pakistan's home series against Ireland has been pushed back to 2027 due to scheduling issues.

The white-ball series, which consists of three T20Is and three ODIs, will no longer be played during the current September-October window. While it was initially expected to be moved later in the season, ESPNcricinfo has learned that it will be removed from this home season entirely and moved to the next, with both boards considering alternate dates in 2027.

The series, which would have been the Irish men's first visit to Pakistan, was announced in May 2024. It was expected to take place in early 2025, during Pakistan's home season.

When the PCB released its official season schedule, the series against Ireland was scheduled for September/October. As of this writing, the PCB website's official schedule for the series remained unchanged.

However, Pakistan's window has become increasingly congested as they play a white-ball series against the West Indies. At the end of this month, they will participate in a tri-series with the UAE and Afghanistan.

More significantly, the Asia Cup, whose schedule and status had become increasingly uncertain following a brief skirmish between India and Pakistan in May, was announced last week; it will take place from September 8 to 27. With South Africa touring Pakistan for two Tests in early October, the window for the series against Ireland became untenable.

"We wanted to better balance content and planning across the two seasons," the PCB's international cricket department told ESPNcricinfo. "It made more sense for us both to spread the fixtures further out as we already have substantial content leading into Asia Cup and then the World Cup."

Pakistan has a busy white-ball schedule this season, with the T20 World Cup taking place early next year. They have made no secret of their desire to play as much T20 cricket as possible, initially increasing the number of T20Is to a home series against Bangladesh at the expense of ODIs, before scheduling conflicts forced their cancellation.

They were also said to be eager to convert the ongoing series against the West Indies to a T20 format, though ESPNcricinfo understands there were other factors at play. In addition, the T20I series against Afghanistan will now be a tri-series, adding more short-form fixtures to their schedule.

Ireland did not have a fixture clash during the time the series was scheduled to be played, but ESPNcricinfo understands the decision to postpone was mutual.