The Taliban takeover in Kabul left the west flailing. But when it comes to cricket, the new ruling regime in Afghanistan is being shown little mercy.
Cricket Australia has announced
that it will almost certainly cancel the historic Test match with Afghanistan, which was scheduled to start in November. The reason? The Taliban’s mooted ban on women’s cricket. Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine said
it is ‘hard to see’ Afghanistan being a part of next month’s T20 World Cup, implying that the ICC should ban the country and that teams should pull out from facing them in the tournament. The response from Australia emerged after the Taliban cultural commission head Ahmadullah Wasiq said ‘Islam and the Islamic Emirate (of Afghanistan) do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed’.
In light of this sporting hypocrisy, the noisy backlash against Afghan cricket is hard to take
Make no mistake: the Taliban’s gruesome assault on Afghanistan’s marginalised sections, especially women, demands a response.
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