The former head of women’s cricket at the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), Tuba Sanga has called on the international cricketing nations to stand with Afghanistan men players even while the new Taliban regime is most likely to ban women’s game in the country.
His comments come in the wake of a threat from Cricket Australia that if the new system in Afghanistan will bar women’s participation in the game, the first and only Test scheduled between the sides later this year will be cancelled.
Sanga, who had fled the country for Canada in the wake of the Taliban takeover of the country, said that boycotting the male team will be a killing blow for the overall game in the country and that they should be supported for the game’s preservation in the war-torn country.
"It's not a good idea to boycott the male team. They did a lot for Afghanistan -- they introduced Afghanistan to the world in a positive way. If we don't have a male team any more, there would be no hope for cricket overall, Sanga told AFP.
The Taliban has not given a clear indication of their policy with respect to women’s participation in sports overall and cricket but past precedents are suggestive that the future of women’s cricket is all but doomed in the near future.