Cricket Australia chief defends board's decision to withdraw from ODI series against Afghanistan

Cricket Australia's (CA) chief Nick Hockley on Friday, January 13th responded to the criticism on their decision to withdraw from the upcoming scheduled ODI series against Afghanistan following Taliban's latest move to further restrict women's rights in the country. In it's defense, CA chief said that 'basic human rights is not politics' adding that they didn't take this decision lightly and consulted with their stakeholders including their government before making it public on Thursday.

Last year, the Taliban government imposed various restrictions on women's education and employment opportunities including banning them from attending universities. In the wake of such a step, CA decided to abandon the series that was slated for March window in the UAE this year. Adding what transpired throughout, Nick said,

"Basic human rights is not politics. It is clearly a very challenging and sad situation. We did not take this decision lightly and consulted widely including with our government. We were hopeful of playing the series and have been in regular dialogue with the Afghanistan Cricket Board, however announcements by the Taliban in late November and late December led to our decision to withdraw from these games," Hockley added.

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After the announcement, many Afghanistan players including the ones who are contracted to play for their respective franchises in the ongoing Big Bash League, responded angrily and even threatened to pull out from playing in Australia's premier T20 tournament. This included star leggie Rashid Khan and pacer Naveen-ul-Haq. While Rashid responded saying cricket is the only hope for people in the war-torn country, Naveen slammed this call from CA by calling it childish.

Reacting to Rashid's tweet, CA chief said, "We acknowledge and applaud Rashid Khan's and other Afghanistan cricketers' comments at the time condemning the Taliban's decision to ban women from universities. Rashid will always be welcome in the BBL.”

While concluding, Hockley said CA will remain committed towards the growth of women's cricket across the world, and hinted that if and when the situation in the country improves, the bilateral cricket between two countries can resume.

"We remain committed to supporting the growth of the game for women and men around the world and hope that improved conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan means that we can resume bilateral cricket in the not too distant future," CA chiefconcluded.