Bengaluru, August 16: Afghanistan has always had rough patches in their history. The Taliban takeover of that nation is the latest in that gory sequence of unrest. Not just socially, but the Taliban seizure has come as a massive setback to the sporting ambitions of that nation, and the cricket team stares at an unclear future.
Afghanistan is set to play in the ICC T20 World Cup, to be held in the UAE, in October and some frontline players like Rashid Khan are part of various T20 leagues like the IPL 2021, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL 2021) and the latest edition of the Big Bash League (BBL).
They have already lost a three-match one-day series against Australia ahead of the T20 World Cup, primarily because of the logistics as it was scheduled to take place in India.
"The Afghanistan Cricket Board and Cricket Australia agreed to postpone the tour given the complexities of travel, quarantine periods and a finding a suitable location for the matches given the relocation of the T20 World Cup to the UAE," the ACB said in a statement with the CA.
"With the (T20) World Cup relocated from India to the UAE, the ACB will continue to explore the possibility of hosting a proposed T20 tri-series involving Australia and the West Indies," the statement read.
But now with the Taliban capturing Kabul, sports might just not have any place in their scheme of things. "These are unclear days as lot of people are fleeing from Afghanistan. We don't know what is in store for us. Even if the Taliban does not oppose to sports, we will have to wait and see the stand of other nations to the new Afghan regime.
We will have to wait and see how many nations will establish bilateral relation now with Afghanistan. International relations are a very complicated subject. So, even if sports do not come under major curbs, it will be difficult days ahead for Afghan athletes. We will have to wait on those series against Australia or the proposed tri-series," said an official associated with the ACB on condition of anonymity.
There was a time when the Afghanistan cricket team shifted its base to Greater Noida, India, in the 2017-18 season. Can we see it happening again? "It was a wonderful gesture from India and the BCCI to give us a base in their country. We also had chance to get a feel of Test cricket in 2018, courtesy India. But as I said, we cannot make any comments at the moment about future plans. We are just hoping for the dust to get settled soon.
"We will be in touch with the ICC and other cricket boards to find a way ahead as we need to explore every avenue to ensure that Afghanistan cricket should not suffer, especially after making a lot of progress in the recent years," he said.
Afghanistan had recently revamped their coaching staff. They had roped in former Australia pacer Shaun Tait as their bowling coach, former Ireland all-rounder John Mooney is their fielding coach while former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener is their head coach.
Even India has representation in the Afghanistan coaching staff as Prasanth Panchada and Saurab Walkar are their head physio and computer analyst since early this year. "We had a lovely time in Kabul. We met a lot of nice people, enjoyed a different culture. We are in touch with the ACB officials, and hopefully we will have a clear picture soon. Afghanistan cricket needs all the help now to continue in the path of progress," said Panchada, who was in Afghanistan capital as recently as in July.
The ACB had also announced the 8th edition of the Shpageeza Cricket League 2021, scheduled for September, but now it has also thrown into doubt with Taliban capturing many cricket stadiums across Afghanistan along with the home cities.
"We had recently advertised to find a title sponsor for the Shpageeza League for its 8th edition. We had received a few tenders as well. Last year the league was sponsored by Etisalat Afghanistan and the National Radio Television of Afghanistan. But now, we will have to reassess all those plans," the official said.
Afghanistan cricket has come forward through some tough battles, time then for another!