Former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan has lashed out at Australian Test captain Tim Paine for his recent ‘all teams should boycott’ comments at Afghanistan team prior to the T20 World Cup 2021, which is all set to begin from October 17 in Oman and UAE.
As Afghanistan has been in political turmoil and the Taliban does not support women’s cricket, Tim Paine has opened up on Afghanistan’s participation in the mega event. Even, Cricket Australia (CA) has confirmed on Thursday that its men’s season-opening Test against Afghanistan, scheduled to start November 27, won’t take place because of the Taliban’s ban on women’s sport.
Tim Paine backed the decision wholeheartedly, adding his surprise over the relative silent attitude from the ICC was “fascinating” as well. He also stated that he couldn’t understand how Afghanistan can be allowed to compete in next month’s T20 World Cup. On the other hand, the ICC has stated that it won’t discuss the issue until a board meeting in November as well.
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“I don’t think we want to be associated with countries that are taking opportunities or things off literally half their population,” Tim Paine said on his SEN radio show. “It’s sad. We’ve heard nothing from the ICC, which is fascinating given there is a T20 World Cup in just over a month’s time. I’d imagine it’s impossible [for Afghanistan to take part] if teams are pulling out of playing against them and governments are not letting them travel to our shores.”
“How a team like that can be allowed to play in an ICC-sanctioned event is going to be very, very hard to see.” Paine also claimed a boycott is “something that teams will discuss on the eve of that World Cup”.
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However, after seeing that, Asghar urged Tim Paine to refrain from giving such comments and requested all nations to support them and their national team. He also said that Paine has stated that without knowing the actual circumstances.
He added, “In any case you are mistreating Afghan Cricket and all the gains we have obtained with hardship in the past decade. (Sports should be separated from politics)”
