Afghan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq to pull out from BBL after Cricket Australia withdraws from Afghanistan series

Afghanistan's young pacer Naveen-ul-Haq has pulled out of the ongoing Big Bash League after Cricket Australia's (CA) decision to withdraw from the scheduled One Day International (ODI) series against Afghanistan.

CA's decision has come after Taliban's move to further restrict women's rights in the war-torn nation. Previously, CA had cancelled its scheduled one-off Test match against Afghanistan at the start of the 2020-21 home summer, which had disappointed the Afghanistan cricket community, including their leading international players such as Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi.

Naveen openly expresses displeasure over CA's decision

Taking to the micro-blogging site Twitter, the 23-year-old mentioned that he 'won't be participating' in the Big Bash League (BBL), Australia's premier T20 competition, anymore as a mark of protest against CA's decision to not go ahead with the scheduled series against Afghanistan.

"Time to say won’t be participating in big bash after this until they stop these childish decisions that’s how they went about the one-off test now ODI when a country is going through so much in place of being supportive you want to take the only reason of happiness from them #CA," the Afghanistan pacer said in his Tweet.

time to say won’t be participating in big bash after this until they stop these childish decisions that’s how they went about the one off test now ODI when a country is going through so much in place off being supportive you want to take the only reason of happiness from them #CA

— Naveen ul haq Murid (@imnaveenulhaq) January 12, 2023

CA has, in reply, issued a statement wherein it has specifically stated that it will not indulge in any event which could encourage women from being stripped of their basic human rights.

"CA is committed to supporting growing the game for women and men around the world, including in Afghanistan. (We) will continue to engage with the Afghanistan Cricket Board in anticipation of improved conditions for women and girls in the country," the statement read.