Taliban don't have any problem with men's cricket team, but future of women's cricket uncertain: ACB CEO

In a news that will make Afghanistan fans and its followers happy, the Taliban has said it won’t interfere with the cricketing matter of its men’s team. The team is set to play Pakistan in a three-match ODI series which is set to begin from September 1 in Sri Lanka. The tour, however, was put in some serious jeopardy when the Taliban had swept to control in Afghanistan.

However, the fate of women’s game though is not clear. Afghanistan women’s team does not play often as do their male counterparts, but they do have a team and play few matches domestically. Recently, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) awarded national contracts to 25 female players with but the road ahead seems a bit difficult for the aspiring women cricketers.

Speaking to the Sports Desk podcast, Hamid Shinwari, chief executive of the national board, said: “I think it will be stopped – that is my assumption. I really don’t know what the position in the future will be. We have kept the salaries and they are on our payroll. If the government decides that we don’t go with the national women’s team, we will have to stop it.”

Pakistan series and Shpageeza T20 competition to go ahead as per plan

Apart from the Pakistan series, the ACB has also planned to expand Shpageeza- domestic T20 competition in 2021.  “The Taliban don’t have any issue or problem with cricket, and they have told us that we can continue our work as planned,” said Afghanistan Cricket Board head of media operations Hikmat Hassan.

The Afghanistan team has also completed training for the series and is set to travel to Sri Lanka for the same. “We have completed our two training camps in Kabul and, we have sponsors, a production team, and even the kit ready.” Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s own domestic T20 competition Shpageeza Cricket League (SCL) have added two more teams, apart from originally having six teams.

“Given the current problems in Afghanistan, it is an opportunity to bring the country together, bring some joy to the people, and put on a remarkable spectacle,” Hassan said.