Zimbabwe Cricket has announced that the national side's five-match Twenty20I series against Afghanistan, scheduled to take place in August, has been called off due to the coronavirus pandemic, Afghanistan’s Cricket Board (ACB) announced in a statement on Saturday night.

“As the five-match T20I series between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe scheduled to be hosted by the latter in August is called-off by Cricket Zimbabwe, ACB understands that under the current situation where the COVID-19 pandemic still poses a grave threat to the health and safety of everyone concerned, it is not currently feasible for the series to be held,” the ACB said.

The ACB has always been “strongly adherent to the health and safety guidelines in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak throughout the globe which also laid an impact on cricketing calendar including the 2020 T20 World Cup,” it said.

“As ACB and Cricket Zimbabwe share a good history of bilateral cricket, the possibility of a series between the National teams of both countries will be discussed again once the threat of COVID-19 is tackled effectively,” it added.

Zimbabwe played their last ODI and T20I series against Bangladesh in February-March before the game was distrupted due to the coronavirus.

India was also scheduled to tour Zimbabwe for a series comprising three ODIs, starting August 22, but it too had to be cancelled due to the global health crisis.

About two months ago, the ACB held its first training for the national team after a long delay due to COVID-19 to prepare for a strong presence in the Asian Cup and World Cup.