The war between Iran and Israel has really ramped up tension across the Middle East, and now even international cricket is feeling the impact. Afghanistan and Sri Lanka were all set for a white-ball series in the UAE, but that’s now off the table, postponed without a new date. Both cricket boards agreed to pull the plug, mostly because flights are a mess, security’s tight and the region’s just too unstable right now.

These two sides (Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka) planned to play three T20Is and three ODIs from March 13 to 25 with Afghanistan hosting the series. A Sri Lanka Cricket official told AFP that, flight problems and ongoing war in the Middle-East made it impossible to go ahead with cricket.

This series would have been a first for Afghanistan, hosting Sri Lanka for a bilateral contest. But with the war raging, that milestone has to wait. Afghanistan still can’t host matches on home soil because of safety issues. So their “home” games usually happen in places like India or the UAE.

Things really heated up after the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran fired back with missiles and drones aimed at Israel and the US airbases in the regions, which shut down a lot of Middle Eastern airspace.

Ibrahim Zadran to lead Afghan side

Now, with this series on hold, Afghanistan opener Ibrahim Zadran has to wait even longer to start his run as captain. The board picked him to lead the T20 side instead of Rashid Khan and this series would’ve been his first in charge. For Sri Lanka, it was supposed to be Gary Kirsten’s debut as head coach.

And it’s not just these two teams. After the recent T20 World Cup, a bunch of teams got stuck or delayed while flying through the region all because of the ongoing chaos. The war isn’t just making headlines, it’s messing with cricket too.