Kolkata: The recent political turmoil in Afghanistan would not hamper the sport of cricket in the country, according to Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) CEO Hamid Shinwari. The Taliban has taken over the country after the government collapsed and a new interim government is expected to be announced soon.
Shinwari said the Talibans ‘love’ and ‘support’ cricket and also assured that the members of the national team and their families are safe. “Taliban loves cricket. They have supported us since the beginning. They did not interfere in our activities,” Shinwari said.
“I don’t see any interference and expect support so that our cricket can move forward. We have got an active chairman, I remain CEO until further notice,” added Shinwari. It was seen that the growth of cricket in the country coincided with the Taliban’s rule during 1996-2001 as many Afghan refugees took up the sport during that time.
“It can be said that cricket flourished during the Taliban era. It is also a fact that many of our players practised in Peshawar and they made the sport mainstream in Afghanistan. The good thing is that we are heading towards normalcy. The people have started working,” he said.
“We will resume our office from tomorrow and the national camp which was underway ahead of the Pakistan series in Sri Lanka will also resume after a two-day break with the change in regime.”
Talking about the players’ safety, Shinwari said: “Other than four or five players who are playing overseas the rest are all in Kabul. Like I said, they are safe and doing fine.” Afghanistan will play a three-match ODI series starting September 1 against Pakistan.
The CEO also added all their scheduled matches are on track. “We don’t see any cricketing activity suffering with the change of regime,” said Shinwari. Currently, many Afghan players are in the United Kingdom playing ‘The Hundred’.
Rashid Khan, who is in the UK is ‘worried’ about the situation as stated by former England captain Kevin Pietersen. “We had a long chat here on the boundary talking about it and he’s worried. He can’t get his family out of Afghanistan and there’s a lot of things happening for him,” Pietersen said.
