Hamid Shinwari, head of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, said that the team will be playing a series against Pakistan, scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in two weeks, and are also good to go for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Following the collapse of the government at the weekend, Hamid Shinwari, CEO of Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), on Friday said that the team is once again preparing for their one-day series against Pakistan, scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in two weeks.
Hamid Shinwari: Afghanistan Ready To Play Series Against Pakistan And T20I World Cup 2021
Afghanistan Cricket Board has made it clear that the team will be ready for action when the 2021 T20 World Cup gets underway in Dubai. With an eye on the current turmoil in Afghanistan, questions have been raised on whether the team will be ready to participate in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
“We will be playing a series vs Pakistan, we are also good to go for the T20 World Cup,” said Shinwari.
Sri Lanka’s cricket board earlier this week said it was still hoping to host Afghanistan and Pakistan for the three matches in an empty stadium at Hambantota. The one-day international series starts on September 3.
It was shifted to Sri Lanka after stadiums in the United Arab Emirates – where Afghanistan plays their home matches – were instead preparing to host the Indian Premier League.
“With BCCI and other boards, we have a really good relationship. ICC is also in touch with us. They are keeping a close track. As of now, there is no problem with cricket,” said Shinwari.
Chaos has broken out at Kabul airport this week as tens of thousands of Afghans try to flee the militants, who swept through the country largely unopposed by government security forces. The sport was tightly controlled by the Islamic fundamentalist group during their first rule of the country in the 1990s, often viewed by the militants as a distraction from religious duties.
Hamid Shinwari: Cricket Wasn’t An Issue During The Taliban Regime
Women were completely banned from taking part. However, Hamid Shinwari said he saw no threats to cricket from the movement.
“Cricket was not an issue during the Taliban regime before and it will not be an issue now. I don’t remember any incident caused by the Taliban over cricket,” he said.
Hamid Shinwari said he was unable to comment on the status of women’s cricket but the situation would be clearer in the coming weeks.
Rashid Khan, Mohammed Nabi, and Mujeeb-ur Rahman are some of the Afghanistan players who are regular features in IPL teams. Rashid Khan is one of the most sought-after T20 freelancers in world cricket currently. Both Mohammed Nabi and Rashid have urged the world leaders to intervene as Afghanistan faces its worst socio-political crisis in the last two decades.