Afghan skipper bowls a googly at Cricket Australia ‘hypocrisy’
Captain Rashid Khan has taken aim at Cricket Australia’s ‘hypocritical’ refusal to play Afghanistan in bilateral matches, making an emotional plea for a change of heart.
Captain Rashid Khan has taken aim at Cricket Australia’s “hypocritical” refusal to play Afghanistan in bilateral matches, making an emotional plea for a change of heart.
The Big Bash star said Australia’s decision to boycott playing against Afghanistan’s men’s team until the Taliban allow the women’s team equal rights to play at the international level was solving nothing and punished only a desperate people who relied on cricket as “the only source of happiness back home”.
Afghanistan’s historic 21-run World Cup T20 win over Australia in St Vincent was a momentous occasion, and Rashid subtly questioned how much of a statement CA was actually making in shunning his country when it agrees to play Afghanistan in International Cricket Council tournaments anyway.
“Some things, which is not under the control of anyone in cricket and that’s something we can’t do anything about it; I wish we could do something, and wish that was kind of a solution for it, we would be happy, but I don’t know what’s the solution for that,” he said. “I don’t think we can bring sports into that. If there is another solution, you can take that. But I don’t think cricket is the solution of politics … If we play in a World Cup, why don’t we play in bilateral series?”
Rashid gave an emotional account of what playing – and beating – the might of Australia means to the people of Afghanistan, and pleaded with CA administrators to recognise their bilateral boycott was only making things worse for cricket lovers in his country. “Cricket is the only source of happiness back home. That’s the only source left in Afghanistan where people could celebrate. And if we keep that source away … I don’t know where Afghanistan will remain,” Rashid said.
“Once you take this source and happiness as well from us, I think it’s going to be hard for us.
“Whenever I go to Australia in Big Bash, I think I have got so much love and support from the fans there. They have given me so much love. Even in the 2022 World Cup when we were playing in Adelaide against Australia, I got more support than them and that was so satisfying. I think I call them a family.”
Rashid said in an interview before the World Cup with the ICC that he was still having nightmares following Glenn Maxwell’s incredible unbeaten double century, batting on one leg, that broke Afghanistan hearts at last year’s ODI World Cup in Mumbai.
“I didn’t sleep the whole night (after Maxwell’s double ton) and I feel like tonight because of happiness I won’t be able to sleep again,” Rashid said. “That’s how happy the whole team is and the whole country. It’s a massive win for us as a team, as a nation.”
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