In a statement Friday, ACB CEO Hamid Shinwari said the cancellation of the game would not change Afghanistan’s “culture and religious values.”
Shinwari noted the recent increase in the participation of Afghan women in cricket, but argued that the Taliban’s religious opposition to women playing “was not substantially different” from the attitudes of the Karzai and Ghani governments.
If other nations continued to boycott Australia for the Afghan team, the grill “may cease to exist in Afghanistan,” Shinwari warned.
Shinwari praised the ICC for having “the premise of recognizing and accepting everything we have been doing to grow cricket in our country’s political, religious and changing environments” and called on CA to show the same cricket diplomacy. considered, balanced “”. “
“Agreeing to hold this test match would be a treasured gift for the people of Afghanistan by Cricket Australia. It would build relationships, rather than close minds,” wrote Shinwari, who described Australia’s threat as cancel the game as a “great reaction”.