Kabul: The International Cricket Council (ICC) said that the Taliban regime has given a green light to women’s cricket. It was earlier reported that women’s cricket will be banned in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over. However, the ICC’s explanation has now come out in this regard.
The ICC has formed a working group to assess the cricket situation in Afghanistan. The team members held talks with Taliban representatives and members of the Afghan Cricket Board (ACB) in Doha, the capital of Qatar. In this, the Taliban announced that they will fully accept the ICC constitution. It has been clarified that they will not interfere in the activities of the Afghan Cricket Board and will be allowed to function independently.
Working Group Chairman Imran Khawaja said that the Afghan government has assured all support for ICC rules including women’s cricket. Many challenges remained. However, we will proceed together with ACB. Imran informed that the working group will monitor the implementation of the things promised by the administration and will give a report to the ICC. Ross McCullum (Ireland), Rameez Raja (Pakistan) and Lawson Naidoo (South Africa) are the other members of the ICC working group.
In the ICC constitution, it is suggested that all the member countries should have a women’s team along with the men’s team. The Afghan men’s team performed well in the T20 World Cup which concluded today in Australia and last year’s World Cup in Dubai.
Summary: Afghanistan’s Taliban govt has in principle agreed to resume women’s cricket, says ICC