Afghanistan men's team gets Taliban approval for Test match against Australia; women's cricket in limbo

Afghanistan men's team gets Taliban approval for Test match against Australia; women's cricket in limbo

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Wednesday, September 01, 2021, 09:09 PM IST
article-image
Afghanistan cricket team gets Taliban approval for one-off Test match against Australia in September |

The Afghanistan team has got the approval from the Taliban to play a one-off Test match against Australia in November, Afghanistan's cricket board confirmed on Wednesday. The match is scheduled to be played from November 27 in Hobart.

The Test match will be the first cricket assignment that Afghanistan will play since the Taliban's takeover earlier this month. Cricket Australia has also claimed that the match was "well underway".

Responding to questions posed by SBS Pashto on Tuesday, the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission Ahmadullah Wasiq indicated the insurgent group supported its staging, saying all previously organised matches “will continue without interruption, and [the Afghan team] can play with other international teams”.

"In the future, we want good relations with all countries,” he said.

"There is goodwill between CA and the Afghanistan Cricket Board to make the match happen, which immediately follows the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE in which the Afghanistan team is due to play," the spokesperson said.

"CA will continue to work with the Australian and Tasmanian governments ahead of the Afghanistan team’s arrival planned for later this year."

The Taliban have said they will not interfere with the Afghan men's national cricket team, the country's biggest sporting success of recent years, though the fate of the more modest women's cricket programmes remains unclear.

"When good relations are established, Afghan players can go (to Australia) and they can come here."

No country has recognised the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan after their capture of Kabul on August 14.

Meanwhile, Roya Samim, a female cricketer from Afghanistan, has expressed dejection over lack of support for women cricketers in Afghanistan from the International Cricket Council (ICC). She also said that the female cricketers are uncertain about their cricketing future since the Taliban took over the country.

"We all emailed the ICC but got no response from them. Why do they not respond to us, why do they not consider us, even treat us that we don't exist in the world? After the Taliban came into Kabul, we requested that (the ICC) please save all the girls, we are worried for our teammates. The Afghan Cricket Board (ACB) also said nothing, they said just: 'Wait'," Samim was quoted as saying by The Guardian on Wednesday.

Last week, 77 young athletes and women football team members along with family members and officials were airlifted to Australia after being granted humanitarian visas. Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli reached Tokyo to participate in the Paralympics on August 29 after being airlifted from Kabul via Paris.

"The International Cricket Council said that, as far as they know, they have not received any emails asking for help. It is believed they are continuing to liaise with the Afghan Board and being guided by them as to the best course of action, rather than acting unilaterally. The ICC will also continue to monitor the situation in terms of the development of the game in Afghanistan and its role in improving the standing of women. The dismantling of the fledgling women's team could in theory threaten Afghanistan's full ICC membership," further said the report.

In November 2020, the Afghanistan Cricket Board had announced 25 central contracts for female cricketers. Now with Taliban in control, women's cricket and its future is shrouded in uncertainty.

"In the last year, it was not so difficult for us. We can have possibilities, we can have matches, we can exercise daily. Before that it was difficult, people would not accept us, the ACB said that we must not go out with the cricket equipment. We had a match planned against Oman. We were waiting, ready for it. For six months, we were training, exercising, all the girls become stronger, day by day. We were ready."

Samim and her two sisters fled Afghanistan two days before Taliban took over the country. All three sisters are cricketers now living in Canada.

"Leaving Afghanistan, it was a sad day for me. I just cried. I really love everything that I had: my job, my cricket, my teammates, my home town, my relatives. Everything that I have, I leave behind. Even now when I remember this day I will cry."

Now Samim is worried for her team-mates stuck in the country. "The Taliban are against girls studying, so how do they want a girl's cricket team? My other teammates who stay in Afghanistan are afraid, they stay in their houses. They are sad, they ask people to please help us. Emotionally and physically, they are not good."

RECENT STORIES

Jailed Gangster-Turned-Politician Mukhtar Ansari Dies Of Heart Attack, Was Brought To Banda Hospital...

Jailed Gangster-Turned-Politician Mukhtar Ansari Dies Of Heart Attack, Was Brought To Banda Hospital...

Who Was Mukhtar Ansari? Know About The Gangster-Turned-Politician Who Died Due To Heart Attack In...

Who Was Mukhtar Ansari? Know About The Gangster-Turned-Politician Who Died Due To Heart Attack In...

Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe Blast Case: NIA Arrests 1 Key Conspirator

Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe Blast Case: NIA Arrests 1 Key Conspirator

'Hero No. 1' Govinda Joins Shiv Sena In Presence Of Eknath Shinde, Likely To Contest From Mumbai...

'Hero No. 1' Govinda Joins Shiv Sena In Presence Of Eknath Shinde, Likely To Contest From Mumbai...

Kejriwal Personally Argues His Case Before Delhi Court, Says 'ED Ka Mission Kewal Aur Kewal Mujhe...

Kejriwal Personally Argues His Case Before Delhi Court, Says 'ED Ka Mission Kewal Aur Kewal Mujhe...