KABUL: The Afghan cricket board declared its team’s assignments will be honoured the day after the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital Kabul, claiming there had been no influence from any sources.
Hamid Shinwari, the chief executive officer of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), stated that all players and staff are safe and that the team will hold its third camp before flying to Sri Lanka next week.
“We are going there (Sri Lanka) and playing Pakistan for a series. The overall situation is great (in Afghanistan). It was like, two days was needed for regime change and at that time people were in fear, but now we have normal traffic for people and other official activity. Most probably, all offices will be open from tomorrow,” Shinwari told The Indian Express.
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He insisted that everything was under control. “All is well with cricket. Even before, there was no interference in cricketing activities in Afghanistan. We have support from there too and we are playing all our activities as per schedule.”
Urged the leaders of the world to come forward in helping Afghanistan
Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistan’s two most prominent players, are both out of the nation. Khan is in England performing The Hundred, while his family is in Kabul and Nabi is in Dubai. On August 11, Nabi encouraged world leaders to come forward and assist Afghanistan.
“As an Afghan, I bleed to see where my beloved country is today. Afghanistan descends into Chaos and there has been a substantial rise in calamity and tragedy and is currently in humanitarian crisis. Families are forced to leave their homes behind and head to Kabul with an unknown future, as their homes are being seized. I appeal to the leaders of the world; please don’t let Afghanistan go into chaos. We need your support. We want Peace,” he tweeted.
Will the new regime have an impact on cricket?
It’s unclear whether the new administration will affect cricket. Shinwari, when asked if the Taliban would sponsor cricket said, “The beauty of cricket is that it is loved by everyone. Be it any situation. For the last 20 years, we have been getting support from all factions of the society including the Taliban.
We don’t see any harm for the cricketers, we haven’t witnessed one casualty in the past 20 years. I don’t see any problem with the sports, particularly with cricket.”
South Africa is all set
The ACB has hired Shaun Tait as bowling coach and is in talks with Hashan Tillakaratne, a former Sri Lankan batsman, to be their batting coach.
Lance Klusener, a former South African all-rounder, is the team’s head coach. All will be available in Sri Lanka with the Afghanistan team, according to Shinwari.
