What will happen to Women cricket in Afghanistan amid the relentless Taliban chaos?

In what would have been a great step in the history of Afghan cricket with discussions of 25 women cricketers getting central contracts and moving towards the formation of a national women’s team just a few months ago, now seems like a distant dream with the Taliban takeover of the country. 

Although the Taliban have been making promises of allowing women to work and get an education, the ground realities with women and children clinging on to the tires of a flying aeroplane, knowing that their fate would be nothing but death, and still just trying to evade the Taliban rule paint a completely different picture. 

The international cricketing community is also worried about the future of Afghanistan’s full member status which it got in 2017 because ICC requires every full member nation to have a national women’s team. "That was a massive development. We don't know what would happen now,” an ICC source was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz regarding the Afghan situation. 

Lisa Sthalekar, former Australia Women cricketer and a member of ICC Women's Cricket Committee was equally worried about the situation and said, "I have not heard from the ICC on what is happening as far as women's cricket in Afghanistan. But personally, I am concerned about what is happening there."

Shafiqullah Stanikzai, former CEO of Afghanistan Cricket Boardnad the man who led the team to permanent membership of the ICC in 2017 believes that cricket wouldn’t be much affected by the recent developments in the country. 

"Cricket in Afghanistan began from refugee camps and we have come a long way. With very limited resources, we climbed our way up to full membership," he was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. 

Stanikzai further said that cricket has given Afghans a new identity and even after the complete makeover of the country which is all but certain to happen in time to come, it will continue to grow. 

"I hope and pray that cricket in Afghanistan continues to grow. For us, it is beyond a sport, a game. Cricket has given us an identity making the image of Afghans around the world optimistic. Through cricket, we convinced the global community to invest in our talent and in Afghan youth. I hope this continues,” he said. 

The national team is currently in preparation mode for a limited over series against Pakistan in Sri Lanka.