With the dream of as soon as once more donning the Afghanistan jersey on the worldwide degree, 17 girls cricketers from the nation residing in self-imposed exile in Australia have written to the ICC to assist arrange a group, which was disbanded after the Taliban takeover in 2021. Whereas the Afghanistan males’s group has set new benchmarks and not too long ago made it to the T20 World Cup semifinals for the primary time, the ladies gamers, who have been contracted to the Afghanistan Cricket Board earlier than the Taliban takeover, sought refuge in Australia, the place they hope to arrange a refugee group and play worldwide cricket.
In a letter written to the worldwide governing physique, the ladies cricketers praised the luxurious efficiency of the lads’s group within the T20 World Cup however rued that they weren’t getting alternatives to flourish.
“We, the previously contracted gamers of the Afghanistan girls’s group, are proud and excited by the achievements of Afghanistan on the ICC Males’s T20 World Cup and want to congratulate Rashid Khan and his group on reaching the semi-finals,” the letter, written on June 29 said.
“A profound unhappiness stays that we, as girls, can’t symbolize our nation just like the male cricketers.” The Afghanistan authorities has stringent guidelines for ladies and they don’t seem to be allowed to bask in sports activities actions.
“As former Afghan cricketers now residing overseas, we’re unable to symbolize the Afghanistan girls’s nationwide group. We’re asking the ICC to help us in establishing a refugee group in Australia,” the letter added.
The gamers have advised that the group could be administered via the East Asian Cricket workplace, which relies at Cricket Australia. They, nonetheless, acknowledged that “as a result of authorities insurance policies of Afghanistan and the Afghanistan Cricket Board, the ICC can’t recognise them as a nationwide group of Afghanistan”.
“By means of this group, we intention to symbolize all Afghan girls who dream of taking part in cricket however are unable to in Afghanistan.” The gamers have stated that their proposed group could be the one “with out borders” and would draw consideration to the challenges being confronted by girls gamers in Afghanistan.
“Making a group of Afghan refugees can provide us an opportunity to play, coach and administer a cricket group with out borders. The creation of this group will permit all Afghan girls who wish to symbolize their nation to come back collectively below one banner,: the gamers stated of their letter.
“Our targets in having a refugee group is to develop and showcase our expertise, give hope to the ladies remaining in Afghanistan, and to attract consideration to the challenges girls of Afghanistan face.”
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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