Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja, who has Pakistani heritage, made a strong statement regarding the cancelled Afghanistan-Australia series. Khawaja advocates for Cricket Australia to play the series against Afghanistan despite ongoing issues between the two cricket boards.
Australia has repeatedly pulled out of bilateral series against Afghanistan, citing ‘violation of human rights in Afghanistan.’ However, Australia continues to face Afghanistan in ICC events, prompting Khawaja to question the distinction between playing in ICC events vs bilateral series.
Cricket Australia (CA) has canceled multiple series against Afghanistan, including a one-off Test and three T20Is. Rashid Khan, disappointed with Cricket Australia’s decision, has even threatened to withdraw from the BBL if CA’s stance remains unchanged.
Usman Khawaja openly expressed his stance on the issue.
“I personally think yes, we should be playing Afghanistan. I am sympathetic to both sides of the puzzle. I totally respect and agree with a lot of aspects of the stance Cricket Australia has in terms of women’s cricket in Afghanistan, but there’s also another side to it, of promoting and growing the game. It’s a little bit hypocritical too if we say no we’re not going to play Afghanistan, but then allow Afghanistan cricketers to play in the BBL,” Khawaja said.
Afghanistan qualified for the T20 World Cup semi-finals after defeating both Australia and Bangladesh in the Super 8 round.
Australia, on the other hand, was dramatically knocked out following a loss to India and Afghanistan’s victory over Bangladesh.
Afghanistan will face South Africa in the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
Leave a Reply