Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) to carry on its activities as usual, sources told Geo News Thursday.According to the sources, Afghanistan Cricket Board ACB has contacted the Taliban representatives, who so far, have not given a signal to the board that the group would ban cricket in the country.
“Afghanistan Cricket Board series will be held as per schedule as the sport will send a positive message [about Afghanistan] around the globe,” said sources.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board ACB would not face any issues other than logistics, said sources.
Fall of Kabul
The Taliban had completed their sweep across Afghanistan by taking over Kabul on Sunday, following the culmination of a 20-year invasion with the US’ withdrawal of troops.
The Taliban’s first news briefing since their return to Kabul suggested they would impose their laws more softly than during their harsh 1996-2001 rule.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board is the official governing body of cricket in Afghanistan. It is Afghanistan’s representative at the International Cricket Council (ICC) and was an associate member of ICC from June 2013 until becoming a full member in June 2017. Before that it was an affiliate member and has been a member of that body since 2001. It is also a member of the Asian Cricket Council. The women’s team was formed in 2010. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is the patron-in-chief of the board.
In August 2021, Taliban fighters arrived to the Afghanistan Cricket Board ACB headquarters with guns and the Taliban fighters were accompanied by former Afghan national cricketer Abdullah Mazari However, Taliban ordered the cricket board to carry on the activities as usual
The Afghanistan national cricket team’s 21-run win over Namibia in Krugersdorp earned them official One Day International status in April 2009. The team qualified for the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
On 11 November 2010, the Afghan national women’s cricket team was formed. This was to help females understand the game of cricket and have a parallel team to that of the men. Also policy states that as per Islamic tradition women can optionally wear a headscarf or hijab which is their own choice
In July 2016, ACB unveiled a strategic plan and set targets for Afghanistan to be a top-six ODI team by 2019 and a top-three team in both T20Is and ODIs by 2025. In order to achieve this,ACB created a proposal to be presented to BCCI, in the works to secure annual bilateral matches against India and teams touring India beginning next year. Shafiq Stanikzai, Chief Executive of ACB, said the draft had been presented to BCCI president Anurag Thakur in May and further discussions had happened during the ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh in June 2016.
