Pressure will be put on Afghanistan to support women's cricket: Ramiz Raja

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja reckons Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) will be pressurized to support women’s cricket. The return to Taliban rule in Afghanistan has led to the prospect of women being forbidden to play cricket or any kind of outdoor sport. Notably, Afghanistan are one of 12 full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), which apparently means their men can play Test cricket.

However, it’s also mandatory for the Test-playing nations to have a women’s team. As the Taliban rule doesn’t support the same, ACB have found themselves in hot waters on many occasions. In fact, the national team’s historic Test match against Australia, which was scheduled to go underway on November 27, was also postponed due to the same reason.

As Raja is part of an International Cricket Council (ICC) working group reviewing the state of the game in Afghanistan, he has a close eye on the nation’s cricket activities. Speaking of the prospect of women’s cricket in Afghanistan, Raja said ACB needs time but indicated, they will eventually be required to support women’s cricket.

Afghanistan cricket is in a difficult situation

“Like everybody else, we are giving them time. They are in a difficult situation. It’s a tough one for Afghanistan to answer right now. Pressure will be put on Afghanistan. I’m sure they will have to decide in the next six months how they deal with the ICC,” Raja was quoted as saying by women’s cricket.

Notably, BBC, in September this year, reported that Afghanistan’s woman’s team was hiding in Kabul as the Taliban members were looking for them. Speaking further on the matter, Raja said ICC can only wait as of now and keep an eye on ACB’s approach.

“Things are still in a state of flux in Afghanistan. Wait and watch is the policy of the world and that is the policy of the ICC. It was decided that Afghanistan cricket talent shouldn’t be hurt at all because they have some fabulous players, so all of their funding will continue. Albeit there will be more eyes watching how they spend that money,” said Raja, who played 57 Tests and 198 one-day internationals for Pakistan.